Godwin Tsa, Abuja
The internal crisis rocking the Hope Democratic Party (HDP) manifested at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, yesterday, with an application by its factional chairman to withdraw the petition challenging the election of President Muhammadu Buhari, in the February 23 polls.
The party and its presidential candidate, Chief Ambrose Oworu, had approached the tribunal to nullify Buhari’s victory.
However, when the petition came up for hearing yesterday, the tribunal was confronted with two applications filed on June 18, by a factional national chairman of the party, Poland Awinitabre. While the first application sought the striking out of the name of the party from the petition, the second insisted on a change of counsel.
During one of the tribunal’s session, the factional HDP national chairman, Awinitabre, openly disowned counsel for the party and its presidential candidate, Chief Oworu.
When the petition was called, Chairman of the presidential election petition, Justice Mohammed Garba drew the attention of counsel to the various parties to the pending applications. But while counsel to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Yunus Usman (SAN), that of President Buhari, Osaro Eghobamien (SAN) and Charles Edosamwam (SAN) all claimed knowledge of the applications, counsel to Ambrose Oworu, and the HDP, Oliver Eya said he was not aware of the said applications.
Eya asked the tribunal to disregard the applications as they did not emanate from his clients.
However, APC counsel to the APC, Edosamwam, drew the attention of the tribunal to a counter affidavit filed by Oworu against the two applications.
In his response, Justice Garba said since the applications have become part of the process in the tribunal’s file, it is only pertinent to hear them.
Meanwhile, Eya applied that since the applications were served on him in court, he needed time to respond to them.