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By Amos Odhe, Yenagoa
A mild drama, in the form of a heated argument that took everyone by surprise ensued penultimate Tuesday at the Bayelsa State Judiciary when the presiding judge of High Court 2, Justice M A Ayemieye, and counsel to a candidate for the chairmanship position of Sagbama Local Government Area, Barr. Ebimobowei G Okele, exchanged words in the course of a disagreement in the ongoing case in the court.
The bone of contention between the judge, who incidentally is the acting chief judge in the state, hovered around the appropriateness or otherwise of a writ of summon the bailiff, engaged by Barr. Okele, had served the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), one of the defendants in the case.
It could be recalled that shortly after the postponement of the state’s local council election initially scheduled to hold on May 14, 2022, three months before the expiration of the tenure of the immediate past elected local government administrators, the flag bearer of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), for the chairmanship position of Sagbama LGA, Hon Tombra Kelvin Teibowei, dragged the Bayelsa State Independent Electoral Commission (BYSIEC) and the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party to court.
Prayers sought for by the claimant include, among others, an order compelling BYSIEC to fix a date to organize the postponed election, an order stopping BYSIEC from including PDP in the said election on account of the allegation that it did not conduct any primary nor submitted names of candidates at the close of submission of such on 15th March, 2022.
Another relief sought for by the claimant is an order directing the 1st defendant (BYSIEC) to publish names of nominated candidates of political parties that had been submitted before the said deadline.
Meanwhile, ever since the case NO YHC /58/2022 was filed on behalf of the claimant by Barr E G Okele of DD Fiderikumo, Okele & Co Legal Practitioners on July 7, 2022, the case had been subjected to a series of adjournments because of non appearance of the defendants or their legal representatives at any of the court’s sitting.
A sudden twist in the tale however occurred when almost a year after, the 2nd defendant’s lawyer appeared claiming that they had not been coming to court because his client, PDP, had not received any service to that effect.
The war of words that ensued between the trial judge, Justice Ayemieye, and Barr Okele over the fact or otherwise of the bailiff’s delivery to the 2nd defendant (PDP), which the bailiff allegedly swore an affidavit to, was so tense until it eventually eased out when a decision was agreed upon for the bailiff to appear in court at the next sitting and be in the witness box to testify whether PDP was indeed served writ of summons or not.
Meanwhile as at the time of going to press, the state government, our correspondent gathered, has already stepped up plans to appoint caretaker committees to overseer the affairs of the respective 8 LGAs in the state.
