Petitioners Are Wasting Time At Tribunal - Olusegun Mimiko

Ondo State governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, said the opposition parties that filed petitions before the Justice A. Kaka’an-led Election Petitions Tribunal to challenge his re-election are wasting their time.

Mimiko stated this in his reply to the petitions filed by four, out of five political parties, challenging his victory in the October 20, 2012 governorship election.

The Action Congress of Nigeria, the Accord Party, the Congress for Progressive Change and the Peoples Democratic Congress had, last month, approached the tribunal to challenge the results of the poll. They asked the tribunal to nullify the result and order a fresh election.

Mimiko prayed the tribunal to throw out the suits, describing them as “frivolous, vexatious, patent abuse of court process as well as lacking in merit and substance.”

The governor’s reply was filed by a former Nigerian Bar Association President, Chief Wole Olanipekun, (SAN), who is leading a 35-member legal team.

The team included three other Senior Advocates of Nigeria – Ricky Tarfa, Adebayo Adenipekun and John Baiyeshea – as well as Dr. Olumide Ayeni and Abayomi Akanmode.

Mimiko, in his 2,318- page reply to the ACN petition, listed 1,047 witnesses to give evidence before the tribunal while that of the AP had 19 pages with three witnesses.

In the case of the CPC, Mimiko submitted a 51- page report with four witnesses and filed 29 pages with four witnesses.

The governor said he would rely on Forms EC8A-D, ballot papers and Voter Register used during the poll.

He also pleaded the reports of local and international independent observers, reports of local and international media on the conduct of the election as well as video clips and photographs.

It will be recalled that the Labour Party had last week replied to the petitions filed against it by the opposition parties challenging the victory of its candidate in the October 20 poll.

Source: Legit.ng