{"id":461487,"date":"2011-07-15T09:32:42","date_gmt":"2011-07-15T09:32:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/07\/15\/presidential-poll-tribunal-dismisses-jonathans-objections-to-cpc-petition\/"},"modified":"2011-07-15T09:32:42","modified_gmt":"2011-07-15T09:32:42","slug":"presidential-poll-tribunal-dismisses-jonathans-objections-to-cpc-petition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/07\/15\/presidential-poll-tribunal-dismisses-jonathans-objections-to-cpc-petition\/","title":{"rendered":"Presidential Poll – Tribunal Dismisses Jonathan’s Objections to CPC Petition"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"This<\/a><\/p>\n

Tobi Soniyi<\/p>\n

14 July 2011<\/p>\n

\n

The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja as the Presidential Election Tribunal Thursday dismissed two preliminary objections filed by the Peoples Democratic Party and its presidential candidate, President Goodluck Jonathan seeking to stop the court from hearing the petition filed by the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) challenging the April 16 presidential poll.<\/p>\n

In a unanimous decision, the court held that filing the petition on Sunday did not render it incompetent.<\/p>\n

The lead counsel to PDP, Chief Joe Kyari Gadzama (SAN) and the counsel to the president, Chief Wole Olanipekun(SAN) had told the court that the petition should not be entertained because it was filed on Sunday , May 8, which was a non working day.<\/p>\n

But the tribunal in its ruling held that by virtues of section 150(1) of the Evidence Act, there was a presumption of regularity and as such it should be presumed that there was nothing wrong with filing the petition on that Sunday as it was within the time limit.<\/p>\n

Moreover, the court said the respondents had not complained that they had suffered any injustice by the filing of the petition on a Sunday.<\/p>\n

Both counsel had also argued that the petition was an abuse of court process as CPC failed to include its presidential candidate and his running mate as parties in the suit.<\/p>\n

Rejecting that argument, the court held that CPC had the right to file a petition on behalf of Major- General Muhammadu Buhari[rtd and Pastor Tunde Bakare being a registered political party in Nigeria and having sponsored the duo for the election.<\/p>\n

The court however agreed with the arguments of both counsel that the relief sought by the petitioner asking it to order the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to organize another election between CPC and Jonathan was constitutionally not grantable.<\/p>\n

The court adjourned to August 1 for continuation of hearing.<\/p>\n

The tribunal stood its ground that it would not act on technicality to dismiss the petition at embryo stage without looking into its merit.<\/p>\n

President of the Court of Appeal and Chairman of the tribunal, Justice Isa Ayo Salami , who delivered the ruling said the President, PDP and INEC failed to disclose injustice or damages they stand to suffer if the petition was heard.<\/p>\n

Citing section 150 (1) of the Electoral Act 2010, the tribunal said there was a presumption of regularity and that the Public Holiday Act relied heavily upon by the applicants did not apply to the case at hand.<\/p>\n

Justice Salami who is heading the five-man panel hearing the petition held that filing of the petition on Sunday was just a mere technicality that should not be allowed to sniff life out of the petition.<\/p>\n

However, PDP said it was not satisfied with the tribunal position and vowed to challenge it at the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n

PDP’s lawyer, Gadzama told newsmen that the potency of the ruling would be tested at the apex court.<\/p>\n

He said the party would not apply for a stay of proceeding in the main petition since the Electoral Act did not envisage the present position.<\/p>\n

However, Police and Civil Defence accused of conspiracy on the alleged election rigging however had their allegations against them struck out from the petition on the ground that CPC did not join them as defendants.<\/p>\n

The tribunal held that if CPC was actually interested in challenging the alleged roles of the Army, Police and Civil Defence in the election, it would have joined them as defendants in the petition.<\/p>\n

Justice Salami said it would be grossly unfair to sustain the allegations against the three bodies since they would have no opportunity to defend themselves before the tribunal.<\/p>\n

President Jonathan, PDP and INEC had argued fiercely in their motions that the CPC petition was a nullity and a lifeless paper having been filed on a non working day.<\/p>\n

The respondents had argued that since the petition was filled on a public day, it should be declared null and void and hold that there was nothing to adjudicate upon by the tribunal.<\/p>\n

They contended that CPC had slept off on its rights as far as the petition was concerned by not filing its during a working day recognized by law.<\/p>\n

Justice Salami while rejecting the arguments held that tribunal did not fall under regular courts and that it could even sit on any day to meet up with the stipulated days to dispose off the petition.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, hearing of the substantive petition has been fixed for August 1.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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\nPresidential Poll – Tribunal Dismisses Jonathan’s Objections to CPC Petition<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tobi Soniyi 14 July 2011 The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja as the Presidential Election Tribunal Thursday dismissed two preliminary objections filed by the Peoples Democratic Party and its presidential candidate, President Goodluck Jonathan seeking to stop the court from hearing the petition filed by the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) challenging the April 16 presidential poll. In a unanimous decision, the court held that filing the petition on Sunday did not render it incompetent. The lead counsel to PDP, Chief Joe Kyari Gadzama (SAN) and the counsel to the president, Chief Wole Olanipekun(SAN) had told the court that the petition should not be entertained because it was filed on Sunday , May 8, which was a non working day<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-461487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nPresidential Poll - Tribunal Dismisses Jonathan's Objections to CPC Petition - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/07\/15\/presidential-poll-tribunal-dismisses-jonathans-objections-to-cpc-petition\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Presidential Poll - Tribunal Dismisses Jonathan's Objections to CPC Petition - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Tobi Soniyi 14 July 2011 The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja as the Presidential Election Tribunal Thursday dismissed two preliminary objections filed by the Peoples Democratic Party and its presidential candidate, President Goodluck Jonathan seeking to stop the court from hearing the petition filed by the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) challenging the April 16 presidential poll. 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