A Federal High Court in the Federal
Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja,
presided over by Justice Abdul
Kafarati Thursday adjourned till May
23 the hearing of the suit against the
election of Godswill Akpabio as
governor of Akwa Ibom state.
Prior to the April 18 adjournment, Mr.
Kafarati had fixed May 3 as date for
the presentation of briefs and
adoption of final addresses by
parties in the case. The date had to
be moved to an earlier date following
the failure of the People Democratic
Party (PDP) and the Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC)
to file their response papers on the
substantive suit on time.
The substantive suit was filed by
Frank Okon against Mr. Akpabio, the
PDP and INEC to protest against his
alleged wrongful exclusion from the
rescheduled January 15, 2011
primaries in which the governor was
selected as the party’s flag bearer.
But, in the resumed sitting on
Thursday, counsel to Mr. Akpabio,
Paul Usoro, a senior advocate of
Nigeria (SAN), and lead legal
representative to the PDP, Olusola
Oke, SAN, drew the attention of the
court to applications of preliminary
objection they both filed on May 2
and April 25 respectively to contest
the jurisdiction of the court to
continue hearing in the case.
In the applications, which Mr. Usoro
told the court was served to all the
parties on Wednesday, the
defendants asked the court to
discontinue the hearing of the case.
He cited the April 20 judgment of the
Supreme Court dismissing the case
brought by the embattled former
Governor of Bayelsa State, Timipre
Sylva, challenging the refusal of the
PDP to accept his nomination as
candidate in the recent gubernatorial
election in the State.
Counsel to Frank Okon, Lasun
Sanusi, SAN, urged the court to grant
a one-week leave to enable his legal
team study the application and afford
the prosecution the opportunity to
come up with an adequate response.
He also requested the judge to
consider consolidating the review of
the application with the hearing on
the substantive suit when the court
reconvenes, to forestall unnecessary
waste of time in handling the two
separately.
In granting Mr. Sanusi’s request, the
judge adjourned the sitting to
Wednesday, May 23. He pointed out
that the success or failure of the
application would determine the fate
of the substantive case, adding that
hearing on the case would proceed
as scheduled on the failure of the
application, or terminated of the case
if it succeeds.
The adoption of written final
addresses by the parties was
expected to be the final phase of the
legal tussle, to pave the way for the
court to fix the date for judgment.
On the other hand, a member of the
prosecution team, Andem Ndem,
dismissed the application as mere
ploy by the defendants “to buy time
and cause undue confusion and
unnecessary delays to the final
judgment.”
“Akpabio’s legal team and PDP’s are
trying to draw a parallel between Timi
Sylva’s case and Frank Okon’s, and
to say that the Supreme Court
judgment on the former gives them
the authority to question the
jurisdiction of the court to hear the
latter. But, they know that the case in
Bayelsa was fundamentally different
from that of Akwa Ibom, as the court
cannot grant a request in cases that
are not similar in any material
particular, shape or substance. It is a
cheap delay tactics to buy time and
postpone the evil day that is certain
to come.
Mr. Ndem said the defendant had
sufficient time “to file the application
and serve all the parties long before
the sitting, but they deliberately
delayed so that the case would not
be move forward as earlier
scheduled”.
The prosecuting team held that Mr.
Sylva’s case bordered on his
preclusion from contesting the
primaries of his party, but Frank
Okon case borders on fraud and
forgery.
“Frank Okon is also contesting the
outcome of the primaries he was
cleared by the party to participate as
one of the candidates, but was
deliberately excluded in the
rescheduled exercise. So, he is
demanding for his right that was
denied in an exercise that he was
supposed to have been a participant.
Sylva’s case was about the PDP
denying him the right to contest the
primaries.” www.premiumtimesng.com/politics/4936-court_adjourns_hearing_on_case_against_governor_akpabio_election.html

Akpabio is going

Another Kafarati? Frank should sheathe his sword as it is dismissal time.