The Peoples Democratic Party in Abia State has said it has credible information that the Abia State Election Petition Tribunal has been relocated to Umuahia and seriously frowns at such attempts by Dr. Alex Otti and the Labour Party to manipulate the outcome of the Abia State Election Petition Tribunal…..CONTINUE READING
Recall that the Abia State Election Petition Tribunal alongside Ebonyi, Rivers and a few others were relocated to Abuja on the premises of volatility of the environment occasioned by the unruly aggressiveness of the members of the Labor Party in the States and the Judicial Staff Union strike which stoked tension in the Abia State, and raised concerns for insecurity of lives and facilities in the court premises.
Curiously, only the Abia State Election Petition Tribunal has been relocated to Umuahia immediately after the swearing in of Dr. Alex Otti as Abia State governor. We also have information that the members of the Panel have been given residence in the Government House Banquet Hall, Governor’s Wife office and the Presidential Lodge right inside the Government House, Umuahia. Not done, the Hearing Notice in EPT/AB/SHA/11/2023 confirms the venue for Pre-Hearing on Tuesday 13th day of June 2023 at 9 O’clock is at first Lady’s Wing, Government House, Umuahia, Abia State.
This is the first time since the return to civil rule in 1999 that an Abia Election Petition Tribunal would be made to sit inside the Abia Government House and this presents an anathema to the finest principles of justice.
The smoking gun here is that the members of the Tribunal have been changed even before the commencement of the hearing which is billed to take place inside the Government House and not at the regular High Court premises where the judicial staff would provide support services to the Tribunal and guarantee the independence of the judiciary as well.
This clearly presents a conflict of interest and Governor Alex Otti and the Labour Party are trying very hard to be the judge in their own case. Any right thinking person would understand that this intolerable and we would not fold our arms, sit by and watch the course of justice perverted and desecrated.
We are gravely concerned that the Abia State government and the Labour Party are making desperate efforts to manipulate the outcome of the Election Petition and this raises the spectre of intimidation, and disobedience to the rule of law by this government which is the foundation of the very democracy we are working assiduously to nurture. We sincerely wonder why they are applying all under-the-table and surreptitious measures to thwart the course of justice if they are sure that they won the elections.
Fair trial is an indispensable ingredient of justice and many international charters give credence to that. For example, the African Charter which stipulates conditions of fair trial and hearing. Any judicial norm that detracts from the principles of fair hearing is at best a judicial suicide which demotes the value of justice and capable of rendering society anarchic. Taking the Tribunal to the premises of the Abia Government House is like taking the case to the domain of an interested party, the outcome of which is no longer justice but dictatorship.
We further call on the President of the Court of Appeal to use his good offices to investigate these concerns and ensure that the right thing is done to protect the integrity of the judiciary and save our nascent democracy from the hands of new home-grown facists who would stop at nothing to acquire power.
The Abia PDP believes firmly in the independence of the judiciary and would do all we can to support that. Our firm belief as true democrats who cherish orderliness in society is that history has a long arc and it naturally bends towards justice.
We call on the members of the PDP and the good people of Abia State to remain steadfast, calm, peaceful, law abiding and await the outcome of the Election Petition Tribunal…..CONTINUE READING