National and State House of Assembly election petitions tribunal, sitting in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, chaired by Justice Tanko Usman, was yesterday asked not to enter any appearance for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the state Resident Electoral Commission, Dr. Rufus Akeju, in a petition filed by Senator Olufemi Lanlehin of the Accord Party. Lanlehin, who contested the March 28, 2015 National Assembly poll for Oyo South Senatorial District, had dragged Senator Soji Akanbi of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who was declared winner of the election, the INEC and Akeju before the tribunal over alleged rigging.
At the proceedings yesterday, counsel to Lanlehin, Mr. Michael Lana, on sighting the lead counsel for INEC and Akeju, Mr. Adeboye Shobanjo, at the tribunal, told the panel that INEC and Akeju had no right to appear before the tribunal in view of the ruling of the Court of Appeal delivered on August 7.
The Appellate Court’s ruling set aside the ruling of the Justice Tanko Usman-led tribunal, delivered on June 23 on an application for extension of time filed on June 4 by INEC and Akeju. The tribunal had granted the application, but Lanlehin, through his counsel, had challenged the competence of the application, saying INEC and Akeju filed their responses 44 days after they were served with the petition.
The petitioner relied on the 2010 Electoral Acts (as amended), which stipulated that a respondent was required to file a reply to an election petition not later than 21 days from the day of service of the petition. But the tribunal anchored its decision to extend the time on Paragraph 45 of the first schedule of the Electoral Acts.
Counsel to Lanlehin, Lana, contended that the Appeal Court ruling on the petition made it mandatory that INEC and Akeju, who were third and fourth respondents in the petition, could no longer participate in proceedings on the petition, adding that the barred respondents had no rights to appear before the panel, adding that they failed to file a memorandum of appearance in accordance with the provision of the law.
But the lead counsel to Akanbi, Otunba Olayinka Bolanle, and the lead counsel to INEC and Akeju, Mr. Shobanjo, opposed Lana’s submission. They jointly asked the petitioners’ counsel to formally file an application before the panel on the matter.
According to Shobanjo, “If they don’t want us here again, they should apply that we should go and we will go. After all, we came from somewhere.” Responding, Lana, who reminded the panel that the petition had only 59 days to expire, cited a Supreme Court judgment in support of his position. He argued that there was no longer any contest between the petitioner and the barred respondents.
The tribunal, however, asked the petitioner’s counsel to bring a formal application on the request to shut the doors against INEC and Akeju in the petition.