By Our Correspondent
Parties in the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, sitting at Makurdi, will on 14th August, 2023, adopt their final written addresses. Chairman of the three member panel, Honourable Justice Ibrahim Musa Karaye, fixed the date after parties closed their case.
The parties remains Uba, PDP (petitioners) and INEC, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia, Sam Ode, APC (Respondents). The petitioners called five witnesses to make their case while the first and fourth respondents (INEC and APC) called one witness each with Alia and Ode not calling any witness(es).
According to the Tribunal, the respondents have seven days to file their final written address and upon receipt of addresses by the petitioners, that have ten days, reply on points of law within three days. The time to do this will expire on 9th August with 14th August, fixed for adoption of final written addresses.
Earlier at the hearing, the Honourable Tribunal threw out Uba’s celebrated document purportedly showing that Fr. Governor Alia holds Allegiance to USA.
The Honourable Tribunal said James Ornguga, who the petitioners wanted to cross examine with the document is not the maker of the document and that the document was not pleaded by any parties as it is nothing but the making of counsel to the petitioners.
Furthermore, the Tribunal holds that admitting the document in evidence will amount to allowing the petitioners to amend their petition. And as rightly submitted by the respondents, the time for amending the petition has elapsed.
The document was therefore, rejected and marked accordingly, putting an end to the celebration by those that were thinking Alia may be sacked because he holds dual citizenship.
Meanwhile, INEC witness, who testified at today’s hearing told the Tribunal that the commission duly monitored APC primary election in the state and that the party submitted its list of candidates and their particulars to INEC according to the 2023 election guidelines.
He further told the court under cross examination that on 23rd Jan, 2023, APC notified INEC of the judgment of the Court of Appeal and thereafter, conducted rerun in 12 LGAs, which exercise the commission monitored. The witness admitted that at the 18th March, 2023, poll, Alia scored majority of the lawful votes cast and was so returned.
Under cross exams by Ode’s counsel, witness told the court that he appraised the documents submitted by Ode but did not conclude that any of the documents were forged.
According to to the INEC witness, apart from scoring majority of the lawful votes cast, Alia and Ode met the statutory and constitutional requirements for contesting the election.
Witness also told the court under cross examination by APC counsel that the policy of INEC is to obey all judgements of the courts, in agreement with APC’s counsel as it was the case with Celestine Omehia and Rotimi Amaechi (2007) and Zamfara State (2023) – which came 12 days to election, with PDP as one of the parties.
Under cross examination by the petitioners’ counsel, witness says it’s the duty of INEC to monitor primary election by political parties and that the commission monitored the one by APC Benue too.
Alia called no witness. His counsel, S. I. Ameh, SAN, said he is relying on evidence elicited from cross exams of petitioners’ witnesses, first respondent and the documents tendered by the petitioners and the first respondent.
On his part, Sam Ode (3rd Respondent) did not call any witness either. Mike Osuman, SAN, for Ode also said he is relying on the evidence elicited from all the witnesses – both from the petitioners and the first respondent under cross examination as well as the several exhibits in form of documents that were tendered before the Honourable Tribunal and on those premises, in the interest of justice, rather than waste the previous time of this Tribunal,not present any witness, in defence of the petition.
James Akpera Ornguga, who was called by APC’s Matthew Burka, SAN, told the Tribunal that everything APC did prior to the 2023 Benue Governorship election was done inline with INEC timetable.
Ornguga told the court under cross examination that Sam Ode is a man of honest integrity and it’s not correct to say that Sam Ode forged form EC9. He was certain that Ode met the statutory and constitutional requirements for contesting the election as Deputy Governor.