Bayelsa Guber: Again, tribunal denies APC, Sylvia's request to stop Election Tribunal

A new motion by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its governorship candidate, Timipre Sylva, asking for the panel's members to be disqualified from continuing with his petition challenging Governor Douye Diri's election victory was denied by the Bayelsa State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal.

After hearing arguments from attorneys representing Sylva, Tunde Falola, Charles Edosanwan for INEC, Chris Uche, SAN, for Governor Diri, Chukwuma Machukwu Ume for the Deputy Governor, and Tayo Oyetibo for the Peoples Democratic Party PDP, the tribunal's chairman, Justice Adekunle Adeleye, denied the request.

In a succinct decision, Justice Adekeye stated that the tribunal was required by a March 5 letter from the President of the Court of Appeal to continue considering the petition, regardless of any application by the parties. 

Accordingly, he stated that the petitioners' request for the tribunal to be dissolved has been superseded by the PCA's letter. 

Falola, the attorney for Sylva, had contended that his clients had filed a new application against the tribunal, claiming that the two petitioners were certain beyond a reasonable doubt that they would not be able to receive justice from panel members. 

The two petitioners added that they felt they would not receive a fair hearing because of the unusual conditions the panel had displayed.

Consequently, he requested that the tribunal, in the interest of justice, set aside its petition and permit other members to be appointed by the PCA to decide their petition in the short time remaining before the case's hearing ends. 

Concurrently, every Respondent, via their corresponding solicitors, resisted the plea for the panellists to step down. 

They said that the application was an attempt to restrict the respondents from responding to the petition with their own defence. 

They claimed that APC and Sylva's move was a well-thought-out attempt to intimidate the tribunal members into carrying out their wishes. 

The petitioners ended their case even though the time allotted to them had not yet passed, according to the four respondents, therefore there was no foundation for the assertion that they were not given a fair hearing. 

According to the respondents, APC and Sylva participated in the pre-hearing session and gave their full support to the timetable that was decided upon by all involved parties. 

The first respondent, INEC, has been scheduled by the tribunal to present and complete its defence on March 13 and 14.