On Wednesday, the Osun State Race Petition Tribunal requested the State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), to submit Senator Ademola Adeleke’s nomination form and academic credentials for the 2018 governorship election.
The tribunal’s ruling, which was included in a subpoena issued on REC by the panel at the request of the attorneys for Governor Adegboyega Oyetola and the APC, was presided over by Justice Tertsea Kume (APC).
Additionally, the INEC, Adeleke, and PDP attorneys’ attempt to have the petition quickly dismissed at the hearing was unsuccessful.
The petitioners have filed a subpoena dated 3 November 2022, compelling REC to appear before the court to present Adeleke’s Form CF 001, which is the nomination form, and all of its attachments, including the certificates used in the 2018 election, according to counsel for Oyetola and the APC, Dr. Abiodun Saka Layoonu (SAN), who was present at the tribunal’s Wednesday session.
He stated that he would be forced to request an adjournment until Monday, November 21 because the bailiff had not yet served REC with the Subpoena, despite it having been signed.
The plea for delay was opposed by Paul Ananaba, SAN, counsel for INEC, who said that it was obvious proof that the petitioners were not ready to pursue the matter diligently.
Ananaba said that the petitioners had broken paragraph 3 of the tribunal’s pre-hearing report by intending to call REC as a witness without first alerting the tribunal and argued that the fact that REC had been summoned to bring the aforementioned papers was never stated in the petition.
He pointed out that the aforementioned paragraph 3 stated that the list of witnesses who would be summoned must be provided to the tribunal 24 hours prior to the hearing day.
The tribunal chairman interrupted the INEC attorney at this point and asked, “Why can not you keep your gun powder dry. Avoid acting too quickly. In the end, you have not received service. You can only bring up complaints after receiving service.
Ananaba persisted on having the petition dismissed right away in his application, despite the tribunal Chairman’s remark.
In agreement with Ananaba’s arguments, the attorneys for Adeleke, Mr. Niyi Owolade, and the PDP, Nathaniel Oke (SAN), pleaded with the tribunal to dismiss the case.
In response, Oyetola’s attorney, Layoonu, SAN, criticised the respondents’ claims as being unfounded, claiming that their claim that Oyetola had not been diligent in the petition’s prosecution was simply a generalisation on their part.
“The question of diligence is a question of fact,” he contended. My wise friends have only made generalisations, but they have never shown any supporting evidence. Your Lordships are aware that we have attended every hearing day to present our argument.
In addition, my Lord, we have the right to handle our case anyway we see fit within the bounds of the law, and we have been so meticulous with it because we know what we are doing. So what is their issue?
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Layoonu also made reference to paragraph 69(vi) of the petition, which made it clear that the aforementioned papers will be cited.
In his subsequent arguments, Layoonu claimed that since the subpoena had not been issued by the tribunal, the respondents could not have received it. He urged the INEC counsel to take a cue from the tribunal and stop being unnecessarily nervous.
Then, he urged the tribunal to reject all of the respondents’ counsel’s arguments.
The tribunal agreed with the petitioners’ lawyer in his decision, which was read by the Chairman, and disregarded the petition’s dismissal requests.
It stated that the REC would be served with the subpoena after it was issued by the tribunal on Tuesday evening.
He then put the matter on hold until Monday, November 21, so the hearing could go on.
One of the petitioners’ attorneys, Chief Yomi Aliyu (SAN), spoke with reporters following the hearing and stated: “The Subpoena was to produce Adeleke’s Curriculum Vitae to court, including all the documents he provided in form CFO01. You heard Adeleke’s attorneys objecting because it relates to the certificates he claimed to possess. But notwithstanding, it must be brought before the court.
“The court must view his certifications, from whichever source he claims to have obtained them. You can see that it was hot for two hours while they were requesting to have the petition dismissed for this reason.
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