The National and State Houses of Assembly Election Petition Tribunal in Enugu State on Friday held its inaugural sitting with a promise to deal justly with all parties.
The Chairman of the tribunal, Justice Yusuf Halilu also solicited the cooperation of members of the inner and outer bar to enable the panel to dispose of the matter within the regulated period.
Halilu said that the tribunal would discharge its duties with the fear of God.
“It is a choice to approach the tribunal when one feels aggrieved. One thing is that we will do our best to discharge the matter with the fear of God,” he said.
The chairman said that the tribunal would be adjourning for pretrial considering a fresh application filed by the petitioners.
He said that the adjournment would also enable the respondents to react to the application which sought the leave of the tribunal to front-load the documents the petitioners would rely on in prosecuting the case.
Halilu, therefore, adjourned the matter until March 10, 2021 for pretrial and arguments on the application.
Responding, counsel to the respondent, Mr Okechukwu Maduka (SAN) on behalf of other counsels in the matter pledged the cooperation of members of the bar to ensure that justice was done in the matter.
Also, counsel to the petitioner, Mr Godwin Onwusi, said that they filed an application for the tribunal to grant them the leave to front-load the documents they would rely on in the matter.
Onwusi said that as at the time the petition was filed, the documents they hoped to rely on were not ready and available as they were with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
“We only listed those documents in the petition but did not attach them. We eventually got the certified true copies of the documents and brought this application to enable us front-load them,” Onwusi said.
Recall that the INEC had held a by-election on Dec. 5, 2020 to fill the position for Isiuzo State Constituency in Enugu State Assembly.
The vacant position arose due to the death of the then occupant, Mr Chijioke Ugwueze.
The INEC had after the election declared the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and wife of the deceased lawmaker, Mrs Catherine Ugwueze winner of the poll.
The candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr MacDonald Okwor felt aggrieved in the outcome of the exercise and approached the tribunal for redress.
