Rivers APC NASS Candidates Petition CJN, Want Case Reassigned from Justice Daylop-Pam Court

Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt

The All Progressives Congress (APC) National Assembly candidates in Rivers State for the 2023 have petitioned the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Hon. Justice Olukayode Ariwoola and the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Hon. Justice John Terhemba Tsoho, seeking the recall of their case files in a suit against the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that is before Justice Stephen Daylop-Pam of the Federal High Court, Port Harcourt and transfer same to another judge in Abuja.

The candidates said they have lost confidence in justice Daylop-Pam over his alleged association with the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike.

According to the candidates, the refusal of justice Daylop-Pam to recuse himself from the suit despite several applications was a plot by the PDP to delist them from the ballot in the elections.

Signatories to the petition included Ezemonye Ezekiel-Amadi, Henry Paul Odidi, Ininasiya C. West and Nwibani Eric Sorbari.

Others were Chikordi Dike, Collyns Owhindo, Oji Ngofa, Eric Chinedu Apia, Chisom Dike, Ephraim Nwuzi and Allison Igbiks.

The petition read in part: “We are the candidates of the APC in Rivers State for National Assembly seats in the 2023 general elections.

“The PDP filed the above suit against us, seeking to nullify our primaries and consequently delisting our names from the ballots of the 2023 general elections.

“The matter, alongside all similar matters filed by the PDP against all other parties and seeking the same relief of delisting from the 2023 ballots, was assigned by the Administrative Judge to Honorable Justice Stephen Daylop-Pam for determination.

“On the 25/7/2022 when the matter came up, the 12th Defendant who appeared in person, orally applied that Hon. Stephen Daylop-Pam recuses himself from the Suit as he – the 12th Defendant – had already written to the Administrative Judge requesting that the case filed be remitted to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court for reassignment to another Judge of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, for determination.

“Apart from the letter written by the 12th Defendant, every one of us wrote individually to the Administrative Judge requesting that the matter be taken away from Hon. Justice Pam.

“One of the grounds of our petition was that Justice Pam is extremely close to the Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, whom he delivered in his favour, the controversial Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) VAT case. We know so much that transpired between Justice Pam and the governor at that time even though for the sake of decency, we did not state and have not stated all that transpired in that matter.

“We also stated that the Rivers State Legal Adviser of the PDP was seen on several occasions while this Suit is still pending, having free ingress and egress to the Chambers of Hon. Justice Pam, having meetings with him. How else can one infer likelihood of bias?

“By letter dated 8th of August, the Administrative Judge responded to our letters and directed that we go back to the same Court and orally apply to Hon. Justice Pam to recuse himself so that he will, according to the Administrative Judge, write a considered ruling on our application.

“Your Lordship, we are dissatisfied with the decision of the Administrative Judge. In the first place, we had made the application on the 25/7/2022 when the matter came up. The reaction of the trial judge was that he would take the application together with the substantive suit.”