By David Diai
 |
| Gov. Okowa (left), and Ogboru |
The
Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, on Friday, October
2, 2015, closed its defense against the petition filed by the Labour
Party, LP and its governorship candidate, Chief Great Ovedje Ogboru,
challenging the declaration of Senator Ifeanyi Okowa of the PDP, as
the winner of the April 11, 2015 Delta State governorship election.
In a proceeding that lasted less than 20minutes at the resumed sitting
of the Delta State elections petitions tribunal sitting in Asaba,
Delta state, INEC lead counsel of the day, the well respected Dr.
Onyechi Ikpeazu, SAN, told the Tribunal that the witness he intended
to call had already been called by the petitioners as PW2, who was
subsequently declared by the Tribunal as a hostile witness, and
relying on his evidence as well as other duly certified INEC documents
already tendered and admitted as exhibits in the trial.
Tribunal watchers and followers will recall that the said witness was
one Mr. Felix Enabor, a civil servant with INEC who had been
originally subpoenaed by the petitioners as their second witness to
give evidence against Okowa, PDP and INEC on September 1, 2015.
Mr. Enabor had subsequently been declared as a hostile witness by the
three-man election panel headed by Justice Nasiru Gunmi, based on the
very robust argument presented by the lead Counsel of that day, Robert
Emukperuo Esquire, urging the Tribunal to declare his own witness, Mr.
Felix Enabor as a hostile witness, following the discovery that
certain sections of his witness statement was at variance with the
position of the petitioners and as a result was not a true reflection
of the position and case the petitioners were prosecuting in the
tribunal.
It was on the strength of this backdrop therefore, that Ikepazu had
told the tribunal, “My lords, our witness has already been called by
the petitioners as PW2, who was declared by this honourable tribunal
as a hostile witness and relying on his evidence, including his
documents, as well as the certified true copies of all INEC documents
already tendered and admitted as exhibits before this tribunal, we
hereby rest our case, my Lords,” the learned SAN said.
Justice Nasiru Gunmi, chairman of the three-man election tribunal
panel promptly pronounced the INEC case closed and following an
agreement on the dates for the filing and responses of oral addresses
by A.T Kehinde, SAN (PDP), Akin Olatunji Esquire, who was appearing
for the first time as the Petitioners lead counsel for Labour Party
and Chief Ogboru, as well as Prof. O.O Ohaegbu Esquire, a member of
the first respondent (Okowa) legal tean who stood in as lead counsel
for the day and O. Anumonye (INEC), the tribunal subsequently
adjourned till October 13, for the adoption of final addresses by all
the contending parties.
2, 2015, closed its defense against the petition filed by the Labour
Party, LP and its governorship candidate, Chief Great Ovedje Ogboru,
challenging the declaration of Senator Ifeanyi Okowa of the PDP, as
the winner of the April 11, 2015 Delta State governorship election.
In a proceeding that lasted less than 20minutes at the resumed sitting
of the Delta State elections petitions tribunal sitting in Asaba,
Delta state, INEC lead counsel of the day, the well respected Dr.
Onyechi Ikpeazu, SAN, told the Tribunal that the witness he intended
to call had already been called by the petitioners as PW2, who was
subsequently declared by the Tribunal as a hostile witness, and
relying on his evidence as well as other duly certified INEC documents
already tendered and admitted as exhibits in the trial.
Tribunal watchers and followers will recall that the said witness was
one Mr. Felix Enabor, a civil servant with INEC who had been
originally subpoenaed by the petitioners as their second witness to
give evidence against Okowa, PDP and INEC on September 1, 2015.
Mr. Enabor had subsequently been declared as a hostile witness by the
three-man election panel headed by Justice Nasiru Gunmi, based on the
very robust argument presented by the lead Counsel of that day, Robert
Emukperuo Esquire, urging the Tribunal to declare his own witness, Mr.
Felix Enabor as a hostile witness, following the discovery that
certain sections of his witness statement was at variance with the
position of the petitioners and as a result was not a true reflection
of the position and case the petitioners were prosecuting in the
tribunal.
It was on the strength of this backdrop therefore, that Ikepazu had
told the tribunal, “My lords, our witness has already been called by
the petitioners as PW2, who was declared by this honourable tribunal
as a hostile witness and relying on his evidence, including his
documents, as well as the certified true copies of all INEC documents
already tendered and admitted as exhibits before this tribunal, we
hereby rest our case, my Lords,” the learned SAN said.
Justice Nasiru Gunmi, chairman of the three-man election tribunal
panel promptly pronounced the INEC case closed and following an
agreement on the dates for the filing and responses of oral addresses
by A.T Kehinde, SAN (PDP), Akin Olatunji Esquire, who was appearing
for the first time as the Petitioners lead counsel for Labour Party
and Chief Ogboru, as well as Prof. O.O Ohaegbu Esquire, a member of
the first respondent (Okowa) legal tean who stood in as lead counsel
for the day and O. Anumonye (INEC), the tribunal subsequently
adjourned till October 13, for the adoption of final addresses by all
the contending parties.
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