Former Bayelsa state governor and APC governorship candidate in the November 2023 governorship election in the State, Timipre Sylva has passed a vote of no confidence on the Bayelsa State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal.
He accused the Tribunal headed by Justice Adekunle Adeleye of undue bias against them in the conduct of proceedings, findings and decisions and demanded its outright disbandment and reconstitution.
In a strongly worded petition to the President of the Court of Appeal, APC and Sylva accused the Tribunal of denying them their Constitutional right to a fair hearing as required by law.
Among others, APC and its governorship candidate claimed that they had lined up 234 witnesses to establish their petition against the declaration of Senator Douye Diri as winner of the poll
In the petition dated March 4, 2024, they alleged that the Tribunal turned the table against them with an order that the 234 witnesses must be called within 7 days only.
In the face of the impossible tasks allegedly imposed on them, APC and Sylva complained that they had no option but to hurriedly close their cases on February 27 after calling only 49 out of their 234 witnesses.
The senior lawyer submitted that the action of the Tribunal was a clear breach of the rights of the petitioners to a fair hearing by preventing them from calling all their witnesses when the Tribunal still had three months to sit.
The Tribunal was accused of coming to the wrong conclusions in its findings that “the pattern of writing witness statements on oath employed by the petitioners was the same and done by the same person”.
APC and Sylva also accused the Tribunal of being grossly unfair to them in its written comments that “comparisons done on two exhibits showed the same lettering”.
They therefore demanded immediate dissolution of the Tribunal and reconstitution of a new one that would conduct unbiased proceedings in the remaining three-month of the petition.
When the hearing was to resume on Monday, the Tribunal Chairman, Justice Adekunle Adeleye informed lawyers to various parties of a petition questioning the member’s neutrality and integrity and seeking indefinite adjournment in the hearing of the case.
Sylva Calls For Dissolution Of Bayelsa Guber Election Tribunal
