The President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Monica Dongban Mensem has dismissed the allegations of bias levelled by the All Progressives Congress, APC and its governorship candidate in the November last year gubernatorial election in Bayelsa State, Timipre Sylva against the State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal
She has ordered that hearing in the petition filed by APC and Sylva against the declaration of Douye Diri as the winner of the election be resumed unfailingly on Monday, March 11.
The Appeal Court President refused to disband the Justice Adekunle Adeleye-led three-member panel as demanded by APC and Sylva.
Justice Mensem ordered that the hearing notices must be issued to the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC, Governor Diri, his Deputy, Lawrence Ewhrujakpo and the People’s Democratic Party PDP who are the 1st to 4th respondents respectively.
The APC and Sylva had on Monday in Abuja passed a vote of no confidence on the Governorship Petition Tribunal.
They accused the Tribunal headed by Justice Adekunle Adeleye of undue bias against them in the conduct of proceedings, findings and decisions and demanded its outright disbandment and reconstitution.
In a strongly worded petition to the President of the Court of Appeal, APC and Sylva accused the Tribunal of denying them their Constitutional right to a fair hearing as required by law.
Among others, APC and its governorship candidate claimed that they had lined up 234 witnesses to establish their petition against the declaration of Senator Douye Diri as the winner of the poll
In the petition dated March 4, 2024, they alleged that the Tribunal turned the table against them with an order that the 234 witnesses must be called within 7 days only.
The petition signed by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria SAN, Sylvester Emenike Elema said that APC and Sylva agreed to call 25 witnesses daily and lamented that the Tribunal allowed them to call only 8 witnesses per day.
Although details of the findings of the Court of Appeal President on the petition could not be immediately obtained, it was gathered that no major merit was found in the petition.
OsunDailyNG sighted a fresh hearing notice dated March 6, 2024, and served on all parties involved in the matter based on the order of Justice Dongban Mensem.
The hearing notice served on lawyers standing for various parties directed them to make their appearances at the Tribunal on Monday, March 11, 2024, by 9am.
