Proceedings at the Oyo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal were again stalled yesterday due to absence of a substantive chairman.

At the Monday’s sitting, attempt for an acting chairman, to preside over the proceedings was rebuffed by the petitioners, while the matter as adjourned till Friday July 10.

The constitutional provision as spelt out in paragraph 24 of 1st schedule of Electoral Act 2010, (as amended), made the tribunal to adjourn hearing on the petition filed by former governor of the state, Senator  Rashidi Ladoja challenging the victory of Governor Abiola Ajimobi in the last April governorship election.

Ladoja who was Accord party candidate in the last April governorship election, had dragged Governor Ajimobi, All Progressives Congress(APC),Oyo Resident Electoral Commissioner for Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC), Dr. Rufus Oluwatoyin Akeju and INEC before the tribunal, challenging results of the  state governorship election.

At the tribunal’s sitting with its acting   chairman, Justice Mahmud I Karaye, lead counsel for Senator Ladoja, Pastor Richard Ogunwole, SAN, had raised the issue of the constitutional provision and his dilemma over the absence of a chairman for the tribunal.

The  provision  reads ”If the chairman of tribunal or presiding judge of the court has not arrived at the appointed time for the hearing or at time of which the hearing has been postponed, the hearing  shall  by reason of that fact stand adjourned to the following day and so from day to day”

The senior counsel told the tribunal that in as much as he would love to go ahead with the pre hearing, he would not want to engage in an exercise which at the end of the day, become a nullity due to the constitutional provision.

”Today, they said the chairman has not resumed, the question is can they (tribunal members) act on acting capacity. When we look at the law, it is not on our side that they should act and that is why we don’t want to build on a faulty foundation because anything done on a faulty foundation will collapse. We don’t want to do anything that will be declared a nullity at the end of the day. We are pleading seriously that something  urgent should be done,” he declared.

Justice Karaye , had earlier told the sitting that  the chairman of the election tribunal was yet to resume , adding that he had the authority of President of  Court of Appeal  to go ahead with the tribunal and act  as Chairman, stressing “ He told me that verbally.”

Chief Ogunwole , nonetheless, pleaded that such an instruction must be in a written form, maintaining, “We are talking of jurisdictional importance. No verbal instruction can change a gazetted instruction. What we are doing now is laying foundation. If the foundation crumbles, the whole exercise crumbles.”

Governor Ajimobi’s lead counsel, Chief Wole Olanipekun , APC, Chief Oluwarotimi Akeredolu as well as that of  INEC and Oyo INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner,  Barrister Adeboye Shobanjo, were however not against  a suggestion by the tribunal  acting chairman that  the session be adjourned till Friday, 10/7/15.

Chief Akeredolu , in addition , counseled Chief Ogunwole  to write a formal letter to the President of Court of Appeal on the development and on the need to speedily look into the issue of the  appointment of Chairman for the election tribunal, which Chief Ogunwole did not object to.

Justice Karaye consequently adjourned the pre hearing  session to Friday(10/7/15).

It would be recalled that  the  retirement of  the tribunal chairman, Justice  F. C Obieze  stalled  the  sitting of the tribunal about a fortnight ,the development which made the tribunal initially adjourned sitting till Monday,29/6/15, and later , yesterday(6/7/15).