From Paul Osuyi, Asaba
Proceedings at the election petition tribunal for Delta South senatorial district have been stalled following alleged failure of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to grant the petitioners access to relevant documents.
At the last adjournment date, petitioners in the matter, including the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Michael Diden, had expressed dismay over the frustration they were going through while attempting to access documents.
In the petition EPT/DT/SEN/ 01/2023, Diden is challenging the declaration of Joel-Onowakpo Thomas of the All Progressive Congress (APC) as winner of the February 25, 2023 Delta South senatorial district election by INEC.
At the resumed pre-trial session, yesterday, counsel to the petitioners, Ayo Asala (SAN) told the three-member panel of justices that the electoral umpire was yet to grant all the necessary documents needed for the trial.
Asala stated that after filing the petition, the tribunal had granted a motion compelling INEC to release the certified true copies of the documents to the petitioners.
“Right from the commencement, we have been having difficulty from INEC in getting the essential documents including the form EC 8 series, voter register and EC40G specifically for Warri South Local Government Area. I have to personally engage the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) before the Director of Operations was compelled to release the documents.
“As at today, they have only given us the form EC8 series. For the voter register, they said they have done five out of the 12 wards of Warri South, and that the other seven wards would be ready by Saturday or Sunday. For the CTC of the collected permanent voter cards for Warri South, they said we should come for it by tomorrow (Friday) in Abuja. And because of this, we could not conclude on the documents we want to rely on for the petition,” he said.
As a result, Asala made an oral application for the extension of the time for the pre-hearing conference, which was not opposed by the counsels to the three respondents in the matter.
The tribunal headed by Justice Cathrine Ogunsola, subsequently granted the application, and adjourned the petition to May 20, 2023.