Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike and the
Independent National Electoral Commission on
Friday asked the state governorship election
petitions tribunal sitting in Abuja to dismiss the
petition filed by the All Progressives Congress
and its candidate in the April 2015 poll, Dr.
Dakuku Peterside.
Wike and INEC predicated their prayer for the
dismissal of the petition on the petitioners’
failure to pay a fee of N100 for the filing of the
issuance of pre-hearing notice Form TF007.
But counsel to Peterside and the APC who,
through their petition, are challenging the
declaration of Wike as the winner of the April 11
poll, Chief Akin Olujinmi (SAN), asked the Justice
Muazu Pindiga-led tribunal to dismiss the
respondents’ application for lacking in merit.
Olujinmi insisted that since the application for
the pre-hearing notice was by a letter to the
secretary to the tribunal, his clients were not
liable to pay for filing fee as such was not
specifically provided for in any law.
He maintained that Paragraph 2 of the TF007
only made provision for the submission of the
form and not filing which would have warranted
payment of filing fee.
He added that even if his clients were required
to pay the fee, failure to do so could only
amount to a mere irregularity which the tribunal
could direct them to pay at any time.
He also maintained that his clients, like other
parties to the petition, had made a deposit of
N500,000 security fund to the tribunal, so the
tribunal could easily deduct N100 from the said
money if it was a must that the N100 fee must
be paid.
Olujinmi, a former Attorney-General of the
Federation added, “It is now settled that a
petitioner can start a pre-hearing session by oral
application. If I’m passing by, I can just ask the
secretary to the tribunal to issue Form TF 007.
So am I going to pay for the voice?”
Wike’s lawyer, Mr. Emmanuel Ukala (SAN), urged
the tribunal to be persuaded by a ruling delivered
by the Imo State Governorship Elections Petition
Tribunal in Owerri on July 22, 2015, dismissing
the petition filed by the PDP’s governorship
candidate in the state, Emeka Ihedioha, on the
grounds of the petitioner’s failure to pay the
N100 fee for the filing of the pre-hearing notice.
Independent National Electoral Commission on
Friday asked the state governorship election
petitions tribunal sitting in Abuja to dismiss the
petition filed by the All Progressives Congress
and its candidate in the April 2015 poll, Dr.
Dakuku Peterside.
Wike and INEC predicated their prayer for the
dismissal of the petition on the petitioners’
failure to pay a fee of N100 for the filing of the
issuance of pre-hearing notice Form TF007.
But counsel to Peterside and the APC who,
through their petition, are challenging the
declaration of Wike as the winner of the April 11
poll, Chief Akin Olujinmi (SAN), asked the Justice
Muazu Pindiga-led tribunal to dismiss the
respondents’ application for lacking in merit.
Olujinmi insisted that since the application for
the pre-hearing notice was by a letter to the
secretary to the tribunal, his clients were not
liable to pay for filing fee as such was not
specifically provided for in any law.
He maintained that Paragraph 2 of the TF007
only made provision for the submission of the
form and not filing which would have warranted
payment of filing fee.
He added that even if his clients were required
to pay the fee, failure to do so could only
amount to a mere irregularity which the tribunal
could direct them to pay at any time.
He also maintained that his clients, like other
parties to the petition, had made a deposit of
N500,000 security fund to the tribunal, so the
tribunal could easily deduct N100 from the said
money if it was a must that the N100 fee must
be paid.
Olujinmi, a former Attorney-General of the
Federation added, “It is now settled that a
petitioner can start a pre-hearing session by oral
application. If I’m passing by, I can just ask the
secretary to the tribunal to issue Form TF 007.
So am I going to pay for the voice?”
Wike’s lawyer, Mr. Emmanuel Ukala (SAN), urged
the tribunal to be persuaded by a ruling delivered
by the Imo State Governorship Elections Petition
Tribunal in Owerri on July 22, 2015, dismissing
the petition filed by the PDP’s governorship
candidate in the state, Emeka Ihedioha, on the
grounds of the petitioner’s failure to pay the
N100 fee for the filing of the pre-hearing notice.
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