There was tight security, on Monday, around the Edo State High Court premises along Sapele Road in Benin City as the State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal had its inaugural sitting where its chairman, Justice Wilfred Kpochi, called for cooperation from all the stakeholders including political parties, supporters, counsels, security agencies and the media for a successful outing.
The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2024 Edo State governorship election, Asue Ighodalo, is challenging the September 21, 2024 election victory of Governor Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Others challenging the result of the election include Accord Party (AC), Allied Peoples Movement (APM), Action Democratic Party (ADP), Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) and the Social Democratic Party (SDP).
Flanked by the two other members of the panel of judges, Justices AB Yusuf and AA Adewole, Justice Kpochi, also urged the counsels to the parties not to engage in unnecessary arguments that could lead to shouting, craving for the conducive atmosphere he met to be sustained.
According to Justice Kpochi, “I am impressed by the conducive and calm environment I am seeing and going forward, I will want this to continue, I appeal to you all that let us put our eyes on the ball so that we can have serene proceedings.
“You have SANs and very senior lawyers here, nobody is going to shout at you, please don’t also shout at us, if there are areas you feel not comfortable about, please draw our attention to it.”
Responding, one of the lead counsels to Ighodalo, Ken Mozia (SAN) pledged their commitment to the proceedings as far as other parties would do the same, adding that: “We will do our best to represent our client and we have admonished his supporters to be civil and not to even be in the court premises and we will do our best to cooperate with you.”
On his part, lead counsel to the APC candidate Okpebholo, Oyinyechi Ikpazu (SAN), said they were ready to cooperate with the panel and other parties in the suits to ensure a smooth exercise. “We sue for understanding and work together, we have done cases, we have also done cases against each other, so we know ourselves and we will give our maximum cooperation for this.”
For the Benin City chapter chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Idemudia Osifo, while pledging cooperation from the association, he expressed concerns about the space where the Tribunal sitting was taking place, saying it’s too small compared to the number of people present to which Justice Kpochi said he had taken note of the concern.
While Ighodalo, accompanied by the state chairman of the PDP, Hon. Tony Aziegbemi, was present in court, Governor Okpebholo was, however, absent while the APC was represented by the State Legal Adviser, Stephen Okororl accompanied by other chieftains of the ruling party including the former Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Frank Okiye.
The Tribunal, thereafter, adjourned till Wednesday, December 18 in continuation of the pre-hearing sitting when, according to Justice Kpochi, all the parties would have completed all necessary preliminary actions and also agree on a pattern of hearing when the proper sitting commences.