By the Editor
Amid pandemonium outside the court room, and tight security around the premises, chairman of the Edo State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal, Justice Wilfred Kpochi on Monday solicited the cooperation of all stakeholders – political parties and their candidates, their supporters, counsels, security agencies and the media – for a successful hearing of petitions brought before it by seven political parties challenging the victory of Governor Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress at the September 21 gubernatorial poll in the state.
It was the inaugural hearing of the petitions by a three-man panel headed by Justice Kpochi, which also included Justices K. B Yusuf and A. A Adewole.
Political parties contesting Okpebholo’s victory are the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Accord Party (AC), Allied Peoples Movement (APM), Action Democratic Party (ADP), Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) and the Social Democratic Party (SDP).
Appealing for sustenance of the prevailing conducive environment, Justice Kpochi urged the counsels not to engage in unnecessary arguments that could lead to shouting. According to Kpochi, “I am impressed by the conducive and calm environment I am seeing, and going forward, I will want this to continue. I appeal to you all that let us put our eyes on the ball so that we can have serene proceedings.
“You have SANs (Senior Advocates of Nigeria) and very senior lawyers here; nobody is going to shout at you. Please don’t also shout at us; if there are areas you feel not comfortable about, please draw our attention to it.”
Responding, Ken Mozia, (SAN)one of the lead counsels to Asue Ighodalo, aggrieved PDP candidate, pledged their commitment to the proceedings as far as other parties would do the same, adding that “We will do our best to represent our client, and we have admonished his supporters to be civil and not to even be in the court premises; and we will do our best to cooperate with you”.
On his part, lead counsel to the governor, Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN) said they were ready to cooperate with the panel and other parties in the suits to ensure a smooth exercise. “We sue for understanding and work together. We have done cases together; we have also done cases against each other so we know ourselves and we will give our maximum cooperation for this.”
Also responding, the Benin Chapter Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Idemudia Osifo, while pledging cooperation from the association, expressed concerns about the space where the sitting is taking place saying it was too small compared to the number of people present, and Justice Kpochi said he had taken note of that.
While Ighodalo, accompanied by the state caretaker committee chairman of the party, Dr. Tony Aziegbemi was present in court, Okpebholo was absent, while the APC was represented by the state Legal Adviser, Stephen Okoror, accompanied by other chieftains of the party, including the former Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Francis Okiye.
The tribunal adjourned till Wednesday, December 18 in continuation of the pre-hearing sitting where Justice Kpochi said it was expected that all the parties would have completed all necessary preliminary actions and also agree on a pattern of hearing when full sitting commences.
Supporters clash outside courtroom
While proceedings were on inside the courtroom, suspected supporters of the parties clashed outside.
Trouble was said to have started when some supporters of some political parties felt provoked by the inscription on the fez caps and white T-Shirts of a rival group, resulting in violent confrontations which caused pandemonium around the premises.