THE governorship election petitions tribunal in Plateau State has urged lawyers who will appear before it to protect the sanctity of justice and their clients as well.
The chairman of the tribunal, Mr. Justice Joseph Jella admonished lawyers to take the issue of time seriously in terms of filing their applications. He commended the Plateau State Chapter of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) for their exemplary conduct during the previous election petitions tribunals, urging the lawyers to extend the same cooperation to the existing tribunal.
Jella disclosed that he had been in Jos for some time but could not sit because there was no governorship petition. He said that he decided to sit last Friday because of the application filed by way of exparte motion by the governorship candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the state, Dame Pauline Tallen, her deputy, Pam Dung Gyang against the governor-elect, Jonah Jang, his deputy governor-elect, Ignatius Long Jang, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
According to the application, the plaintiffs applied for the documents of election materials and permission to inspect all polling documents relating to the 2011 general polls. They are also seeking the permission of the tribunal to allow them to have access to forensic experts by way of machines or electronic scanning of all the ballot papers and other electoral materials used for the 2011 elections.
The State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Edward Pwajok, commended the tribunal for describing the NBA in the state as vibrant, adding that he was happy that the tribunal was sitting in Jos , a development which he said showed that peace had returned to the state.
There are 14 cases before the tribunal. Seven cases are for the National Assembly, both the Senate and the Representatives while seven cases were also filed for the State House of Assembly.
Gen. Jeremiah Useni (rtd) of the Democratic People’s Party (DPP) is challenging his defeat by Victor Lar of the PDP in the Plateau South Senatorial election while Dr. Dauda Gowon of PDP is challenging the victory of former Governor Joshua Dariye of the LP in the Plateau Central Zone.
Apart from the chairman of the tribunal, other members are Mr. Justice Olayinka David Afolabi and Justice Benson Ogbu while Michael Ngbegbe serves as the secretary of the tribunal.
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Jos tribunal wants lawyers to protect justice, clients