The Kogi State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Lokoja has fixed Monday for ruling on two separate motions seeking to stop the inauguration of Alhaji Yahaya Bello as governor on January 27.
The two motions seeking an order of the tribunal to stop the inauguration were filed by counsel to Governor Idris Wada and PDP, Chief Chris Uche (SAN) and that of Labour Party, Reuben Egwuaba.
Uche said his motion on notice dated January 12 and filed on January 13 was supported by a 44-paragraph affidavit and 10 grounds
In his own motion on notice, Egwuaba had averred that Bello was not qualified to participate in the supplementary election when he did.
He said apart from his failure to participate in all the electoral processes preparatory to the governorship election, Bello breached the Electoral Act (2010) as amended, as he contested the supplementary election without a valid running mate.
“Consequent upon nomination of Alhaji Yahaya Bello as replacement for Abubakar Audu, Hon. James Faleke, who was Audu’s running mate, withdrew and dissociated himself from participating in supplementary election as Bello’s running mate,” he argued.
Joseph Daudu (SAN), counsel to the governor-elect, opposed the motion in his submission, strengthened by a 31-paragraph counter affidavit.
He urged the tribunal to dismiss the motion on the ground that the tribunal was not constitutionally empowered to stop the swearing-in of a governor-elect.
Counsel to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Dr Alex Izinyon (SAN) and the All Progressives Congress (APC), Charles Edosomwan (SAN) also opposed the motion in their submissions.
Credit: The Nation
No comments:
Post a Comment