Eligibility Court Case: Tension As APC Governor Knows His Fate Today

The people of Benue state will be waiting anxiously as the governorship election petition tribunal in the state has fixed today for the ruling in a suit brought by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) gubernatorial candidate, Terhemen Tazoora challenging the Governor Samuel Ortom’s election. 

The two gladiators: Samuel Ortom and Terhemen Tazoora

Tarzoor had filed a case at the tribunal through his counsel, Joy Adesino (SAN) challenging the eligibility of Ortom to contest the gubernatorial polls in the state, praying the tribunal to declare Ortom’s votes invalid and declare him the winner.

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The tribunal’s ruling today will however focus on whether or not the question of jurisdiction raised by Ortom, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the substantive petition will be resolved together.

Tarzoor’s lawyer submitted that the defendants, Ortom, APC, INEC, should not be allowed to move their motion which is challenging the jurisdiction of the tribunal separately from the substantive petition at the pre-trial session conducted yesterday.

She argued that Section 12(5) of the 1st Schedule to the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) was constructed so that cases of preliminary objection should be taken alongside the substantive motion to correct cases of mischief which she said were inherent before the 2010 amendment.

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In the alternative, she prayed the tribunal to defer ruling on the question of jurisdiction and take the decision alongside the substantive motion, National Mirror reports.

But Ortom’s counsel ,Chief Adeniyi Akintola said issues of jurisdiction must first of all be determined whenever they are raised, arguing that the objection has nothing to do with Section 12(5) of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended).

According to Akintola, Paragraph 1,2,3, and 7 of the Election Tribunal and Parties Direction Procedure gives the tribunal the discretion on the issue in question submitting that it is not correct to say that because of Paragraph 12(5) of the 1st Schedule to the Electoral Act, the court is barred from hearing his preliminary objection.

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Meanwhile, Ortom has been given the green light to borrow N10 billion by the Benue state house of assembly, due to the lingering financial crisis in the state.

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