On Wednesday, the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) warned lawyers representing Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate Peter Obi and those representing the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) against making disparaging remarks about one another.
During Wednesday’s hearings, Peter Obi’s lead counsel, Livy Uzoukwu (SAN), accused the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu, of failing to appear in court. Uzoukwu stated at the resumed hearing of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) in Abuja that the INEC Chairman has refused to accept a subpoena from the court’s bailiff.
Following his submission, he requested that the case be adjourned. Oluwakemi Pinheiro (SAN), one of the counsels defending INEC, contradicted Uzoukwu, stating the petitioners are attempting to blame his client for their own shortcomings. According to Pinheiro, Obi’s legal team has made it a habit to continually look for a pretext to seek an adjournment.
“Don’t use INEC as a whipping boy. If they have nothing else to do today, they should just stay so. It is their day. It is not correct that the office of INEC Chairman refused to accept a subpoena. “This habit is showing that you’re only stalling the case.
You’ve only called two witnesses out of the 50 witnesses you said you would call and it has been two weeks since tribunal started,” the counsel added. In response to the outburst, the five-member panel led by Justice Haruna Tsammani instructed the lawyers to refrain from disparaging one another.
“If there is anything that INEC is doing, you know what to do,” Justice Tsammani told Uzoukwu. The panel also told the lawyers to “calm your tempers”, adding that whatever direction, the outcome of the case would go, “we are still friends.” The court subsequently adjourned to Thursday for continuation of hearing.