A Federal High Court sitting in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, has adjourned proceedings in the certificate forgery case against Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki.
Recall that the court had on November 3 adjourned hearing to November 16.
The suit, which was filed by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Edobor Williams on July 14 at the Benin Division of the Federal High Court, joined Obaseki, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as respondents.
In the suit marked FHC/B/CS/74/2020, the plaintiffs specifically prayed the court for an order disqualifying the governor from contesting the September 19 governorship election in Edo State on the grounds that he supplied false information on oath to INEC, an act said to be contrary to Section 31(5) and (6) of the Electoral Act, 2010.
Recall that the PDP candidate won the election to secure a second term in office, defeating APC candidate, Osagie Ize-Iyamu.
When the case came up for mention on Monday, Obaseki’s counsel, Mr Ken Mozia (SAN), prayed the court to hear and resolve all pending motions relating to pleadings before going into the substantive matter.
Mozia specifically asked the court to allow him to move his motion challenging the competence of the reply filed by the APC to the defence of the governor in the matter.
PDP’s counsel, Razak Isenalumhe, aligned himself with the governor’s position that all pending motions be resolved first before delving into the substantive matter.
But APC’s counsel, Chief Akin Olujimi (SAN), objected to the position of the counsels on the pending motions and prayed the court to defer all the pending applications and allow him to go straight into the substantive matter by calling his witnesses who were in court.
In his ruling, Justice Mohammed, held that the motion of Obaseki challenging the competence of APC’s reply to his defence is fundamental because it related to the pleadings and has to be resolved first.
The judge noted that filing of pleadings can not be said to have been completed when motion challenging the competence of a reply to defence has not been resolved
He subsequently fixed Wednesday, November 18, to hear Obaseki’s motion.
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