From Priscilla Ediare, Ado Ekiti
The Ekiti Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Ado Ekiti on Tuesday dismissed the application brought before it by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), saying the day when technicalities override justice is gone for good.
The tribunal ruled that the days of hiding under technicalities to trample on matters of justice are gone for good, adding that the court today is on the side of Justice.
Former Ekiti State governor and the Social Democratic Party (SDP) governorship candidate Asiwaju Segun Oni, in the Ekiti June 18 governorship election, lost to the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Mr Biodun Oyebanji, had dragged Oyebanji to the tribunal because he was dissatisfied with the outcome of the election.
Justice Zaad Zadawa who read the unanimous decision of the tribunal resolved the issuance of a subpoena against the INEC and awarded a fine of five thousand naira against the electoral body, explaining that days, when technicalities override matters of justice, were gone for good.
It would be recalled that the INEC counsel, Prince Chris Onwugbonor, had earlier filed a 14-page application to evade the invitation of their witnesses after the body refused to obey the order of the tribunal for the petitioner to inspect election materials as well as enter their witnesses in the court process.
Against the backdrop, the tribunal in its sitting today decided against INEC on all the ground sort for, hence the award of a five thousand naira fine which the lawyer to the petitioner, Mr Owoseni Ajayi, had asked for as damages.
INEC had earlier relied on point of law, but Owoseni countered it, describing the motion as abnormal and contentious, the worst he had ever seen in his handling of petition cases.
He concluded that it is a disobedience of the existing rule of the tribunal and asked the tribunal to dismiss it because it has nothing to do with the merit of the case.