Anxiety in Bayelsa as governorship tribunal set to begin hearing tomorrow …Opuama, Chief of Staff, Bayelsa Gov’t trade words over phone call

• Court ruling on de-registration of political parties misleading, says IPAC Legal Adviser, Bayelsa State

There is anxiety in Bayelsa State as the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal begins hearing tomorrow in the petition filed by Vijah Opuama against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), His Excellency, Douye Diri and his Deputy, Lawrence Ewhuredjakpo on 21 February 2020 as first, second third and fourth respondents respectively.

NAIJA LIVE TV reports that, Mr. Opuama, of Liberation Movement (LM), through his lead legal team, P. D. Pius, Esq., and E. A. Aluzu, Esq., approached the tribunal to disqualify the second, third and fourth respondent in the 16 November 2019 governorship election in Bayelsa state conducted by the first respondent and order for fresh election in the state.

At the close of pre-hearing session, the petitioner requested a subpoena duces tecum to be issued against the fourth respondent to tender his original National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) exemption certificate dated 2 February 1998 in the name of Ewhrudjakpo Lawrence O., which was granted.

Though, the fourth respondent have through his team of lawyers led by Chukwuma-machukwu Ume, SAN, filed a motion asking the court to set aside the subpoena.

NAIJA LIVE TV observed that, In many parts of the state, at public and private gatherings, discussions yesterday were on the issue. Members of both camps were justifying their positions amid pressure on the petitioner to withdraw the matter. .

READ ALSO: “Opuama Forged The Agadaga Audio Himself” Bayelsa Government Alleges… “Please tell your lawyers not to come to court on Monday 1 June” Opuama Fires Back

Last week, there was a voice recording alleged to be that of the Chief of Staff to the state government, Chief Benson Agadaga and the petitioner where the person at the other end was asking the petitioner to withdraw his petition and return to yenagoa that their is a package for him.

The voice recording was swiftly countered by the state government and Benson Agadaga, describing it as “vexatious” and “failed” saying the voice note was doctored by Vijah Opuama to divert attention from the issues before the tribunal.

However, Mr. Opuama says he is disappointed in the manner the government has handled the issue of the voice note insisting that the present administration was never prepared for governance. In his words “I was hoping to hear them say we have traced the number and have identified the individual who claimed to be Chief Benson Agadaga in that audio.

“If a government cannot investigate such little matter properly, how can such government protect its citizens? It is clear that these folks were never prepared to lead the people of Bayelsa.”

Meanwhile, the legal adviser to the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC), Nabai Inemugha, Esq., has reacted to the news of a federal high court affirming the powers of INEC to deregister political parties which circulated the social media two days ago as misleading.

In a statement sent to NAIJA LIVE TV on 29 May 2020 in Yenagoa, he alleged that the perpetrators of the falsehood paid different online media houses to trend the story to mislead the public and an attempt to influence the decision of the court in another matter filed by 31 political parties against INEC. “Yesterday, the entire media space was awash with a misleading news that a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has affirmed the decision of INEC to deregister political parties. Kindly note that the said news is misleading and only true as to the extent that a decision was given in a matter filed by a single party.

“There is a pending matter filed by a good number of political parties in the same Abuja Federal High Court wherein an injunction has been given against INEC stopping INEC from going on with deregistration of political parties. The matter is still subsisting and entirely different from the one which judgement was given, not even yesterday, but last week.

“The perpetrators of this falsehood merely resurrected albeit maliciously, a matter which judgement was given last week. They paid different online media houses to trend a story in order to mislead the public and attempt to influence the other matter in court.

“In conclusion, nobody is saying that INEC lacks powers to deregister political parties. The cogent and valid argument is that the powers must be exercised judicially and judiciously. Therefore, the entire public is hereby informed to discountenance the news of affirmation of the deregistration of the entire 74 political parties. Cases are deciced by the courts based on facts before it. The court is yet to decide the fate of the illegally and purportedly deregistered political parties. We insist that INEC acted illegally and we are very much optimistic that the courts will come to our aid,” he said.

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