Edo Election Petition Tribunal Adjourns to December 18
Party supporters clash in court
Adibe Emenyonu in Benin City
The Edo State Election Petition Tribunal has adjourned till Wednesday, December 18 in continuation of the pre-hearing sitting. The tribunal Chairman, Justice William Kpochi said it is expected that by then, all the parties would have completed all necessary preliminary actions and also agree on a pattern of hearing when full sitting commences.
Flanked by the other two members of the panel, Justices AB Yusuf and AA Adewole, Justice Kpochi urged the counsels not to engage in unnecessary arguments that could lead to shouting and craved that the conducive atmosphere he met should be sustained.
He therefore, called for cooperation from all the stakeholders like the political parties, all the parties in the suit, their supporters, counsel, security agencies and the media for a successful sitting.
Speaking further, he said: “I am impressed by the conducive and calm environment I am seeing and going forward, I will want this to continue, I appeal to you all that let us put our eyes on the ball so that we can have serene proceedings.
“You have SANs and very senior lawyers here, nobody is going to shout at you, please don’t also shout at us, if there are areas you feel not comfortable about, please draw our attention to it.”
Responding, one of the lead counsels to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Dr. Asue Ighodalo, Ken Mozia (SAN) pledged their commitment to the proceedings as far as other parties would do the same adding: “We will do our best to represent our client and we have admonished his supporters to be civil and not to even be in the court premises and we will do our best to cooperate with the tribunal.”
On his part, lead counsel to the governor, Oyinyechi Ikpazu (SAN) said they were ready to cooperate with the panel and other parties in the suits to ensure a smooth exercise.
“We sue for understanding and work together, we have done cases, we have also done cases against each other so we know ourselves and we will give our maximum cooperation for this”, Okpebholo’s lawyer said.
For the Benin Chapter Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Idemudia Osifo while pledging cooperation from the association, expressed concerns about the space where the sitting is taking place saying is too small compared to the number of people present and Justice Kpochi said he had taken note of that.
The candidate of the PDP, Dr. Asue Ighodalo is challenging the September 21, 2024 election victory of Governor Monday Okpebholo.
Others challenging the result of the election are Accord Party (AC), Allied Peoples Movement (APM), Action Democratic Party (ADP), Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) and the Social Democratic Party (SDP)
While Ighodalo accompanied by the state chairman of the party, Dr. Tony Aziegbemi were present in court, Okpebholo was absent while the All Progressives Congress (APC) was represented by the State Legal Adviser, Stephen Okoror accompanied by other chieftains of the party including the former Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon Fran Okiye.
However, in spite of the tight security around the court premises, suspected party supporters clashed outside the court premises, while sitting was going inside the courtroom.
Some people believed to be supporters of some of the parties wearing white fez caps and T-Shirts with alleged inciting inscription were to have clashed with other supporters who were alleged to be against such inscription were seen running in different directions within the court premises.
In a viral video clip, supporters of different political parties where seen running in different directions within the court premises.
It was gathered that commotion began where the party supporters came unruly prompting security personnel within the court tried to disperse them.
