The 2011 Local Government Election Tribunal sitting in Port Harcourt has struck-out another application filed by the Peoples Democratic Party Chairmanship candidate and Council Chairman of Gokana Local Government Area Demua Ledee Demua which prayed the Court to stay on the case brought before it by the Chairmanship candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change, Festus Legbara, challenging the result of the 2011 LGA election in Gokana, pending the outcome of his appeal at another Court where he has gone to contest the powers of the Tribunal to continue to hear the case after the 3-months duration provided by the law.
Counsel to Demua Ledee Demua, who is the first respondent in the CPC petition, Wilfred Rollings, had filed a motion at the Tribunal that they have gone on appeal on the issue of time, to debate on when the Tribunal is supposed to finish its sitting.
Rollings had drawn support for his motion by virtue of the provisions of section 140 of the Rivers State Local Government Election Tribunal Law which provides that “An election petition shall be heard and determined within three months from the date on which the petition was filed”.
He therefore argued that the petition was filed on the 2 1 of June, 2011 and that the mandatory period of three months after the filing of the petition lapsed on the 2 1′ of September, 2011.
“We therefore submit that by the aforesaid very clear provisions of Rivers State Local Government Election Tribunal Law, this Honorable Tribunal has ceased to have Jurisdiction to entertain the matter. The jurisdiction of this Honorable Tribunal is confined to the determination of the petition within the said period of three months and not after,” Ledee Demua’s counsel had contended.
Based on that they were asking for stay of proceedings in the Tribunal, but the Court in its ruling dismissed their motion, insisting that they cannot stop the matter from going on in the Tribunal while they pursue their appeal at the Court of Appeal.
Describing the Tribunal ruling as fair, counsel to the CPC candidate, Ayodele Salami explained that applications as that of the PDP are not allowed by the law.
“In Election matters, the court does not normally countenance applications for stay of proceedings, while an appeal is going on. The basic approach is that it is antithetical, it is contrary to Election matters where time is normally of the essence” he said.
Salami told journalists that the Tribunal basically held that while the Ledee Demua’s counsels have the right to pursue their appeal at the High Court level, the court cannot stop in the hearing of the petition filed by his client at the Tribunal.
Hearing on the case was adjourned to Tuesday, October 4th 2011. ####
