Governorship election petitions tribunal begins sitting in Nasarawa

By David Okpashi

The Nasarawa state election petition tribunal Tuesday began sitting in Lafia, the Nasarawa state capital.

At the inaugural sitting, the Chairman of the three-man panel of justices, Ezekiel Oyeyemi Ajayi called for cooperation of all the Counsels for the timely dispensation of justice.

Mr Joe Gadzama, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) who responded on behalf of the counsels promised to cooperate with the panel of justices to enable them to do their work effectively with all commitment in the interest of democracy and the rule of law.

When the first petition by the Nasarawa State Governorship candidate of the PDP in the 2023 election, David Emmanuel Ombugadu against the Governor of Nasarawa State, Abdullahi Sule was mentioned for pre hearing, the lead counsel to the petitioner, Joe Gadzama adopted the petition.

Addressing the tribunal, the counsels to INEC, Ishaka Dikko, Adebayo Ade and Hassan Liman adopted their answers to the prehearing.

In his ruling, Chairman of the tribunal, Justice Ezekiel Oyeyemi Ajayi fixed 9th of June for continuation of pre-hearing.

The tribunal also entertained the petition by the New Nigeria People’s Party, NNPP challenging the declaration of Abdullahi Sule as the Governor of Nasarawa State by the INEC.