Tribunal to hear Okediran’s petition today

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Tribunal to hear Okediran’s petition today

Written by Yemi Banjo Thursday, 09 February 2012

THE National Assembly and state House of Assembly Election Tribunal in Ibadan will today decide whether to strike out or keep in abeyance a petition filed by the candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Oyo North senatorial district, Dr Wale Okediran, against the election of Senator Hosea Agboola, who won the senatorial election in the area in April last year.

Chairman of the tribunal, Justice (Mrs) T.A.O. Oyekan-Abdullahi, on Wednesday, adjourned the petition till today following the submission of petition by counsel for the petitioner, Mr Gbenga Olatunji and counsel for the senator, Mr Kunle Lawal, on whether Dr Okediran’s petition was still alive or dead.

The Court of Appeal, Ibadan division, had, in a ruling delivered sometime in January, held that Okediran’s petition had lapsed, having exceeded the 180 days stipulated by the Electoral Act and consequently struck out the petition.

Following this development, ACN petitioned the acting President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Dalhatu Adamu, over the decision of the appellate court.

When the petition came up again on Wednesday before the tribunal, Mr Olatunji urged the court to put the petition in abeyance pending the outcome of the petition to the acting president of the Court of Appeal.

He also enjoined the tribunal to take judicial notice of the fact that the Court of Appeal, Makurdi division, had held that the provision of the Electoral Act, which stipulated that an election petition must be determined within 180 days, did not apply to petitions which were ordered to be retried by an appellate court.

However, Senator Agboola’s counsel, Mr Lawal, drew the attention of the tribunal to the decision of the Court of Appeal, Ibadan division, which held that the petition had lapsed and consequently struck it out.

He said the tribunal had no alternative but to strike it out in line with the decision of the Court of Appeal, Ibadan division, which shared the same jurisdiction with the tribunal.