The Rivers State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja, on Monday adjourned sitting to July 9 to decide on jurisdiction.
The objection was raised by Rivers State Governor, Ezebuwon Nyesom Wike.
Wike, who is the 2nd Respondent/Applicant in the matter filed by Dr. Dakuku Adol Peterside of All Progressives Congress, APC, had argued that since the question of jurisdiction of the tribunal had arisen, it was incumbent on the court to stand down further hearing on the matter until it had addressed the question.
Peterside, who was the APC Governorship candidate at the April 11, 2015 Governorship election, is praying the Tribunal to declare the results declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, which returned Wike elected as invalid.
Peterside is praying for fresh election to be properly conducted in Rivers State.
In moving the Application today, Counsel to Mr. Wike Emmanuel Ukala SAN, argued that the matter of jurisdiction was not a matter of judicial prerogative but that of the Constitution.
Ukala maintained that the Tribunal lacked any jurisdictional prerogative to hear the main matter without first dispensing the question.
“It is a matter of the Constitution and not to be determined by the Tribunal based on Court Rules”, Ukala said, citing Section 6 of the First Schedule of the Constitution.
However, moving a counter motion, Chief Akin Olunjunmi, leading counsel to Dr. Peterside, argued that election matters ought not to be treated as civil cases.
He described the prayer and motion for the determination of jurisdiction as a deliberate attempt and “game-plan” by Wike to delay the Tribunal’s sitting.
In a short ruling, which came after one hour recess, the Tribunal overruled Wike’s counsel, declaring that in as much the issue of a court’s jurisdiction was important, in the matter before it, the motion on jurisdiction and the pre-trial hearing would be heard simultaneously.
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