The Federal High Court, Abuja on Wednesday, adjourned until Nov. 16,
\nhearing in an alleged perjury suit against Gov. Godwin Obaseki of Edo.<\/p>\n
Justice Ahmed Mohammed fixed the date, after Counsel to the Plaintiffs,
\nMr. Akin Olujimi, SAN, applied for an adjournment and a date for the
\nhearing.<\/p>\n
The judge reminded parties in the matter that the suit was filed on July
\n14 and being a pre-election matter, it must be heard within 180 days.<\/p>\n
He urged the lawyers to cooperate with the court so that the matter
\ncould be disposed of within the specified time by law.<\/p>\n
He maintained that being a pre-election matter, the law stipulates that
\nit must be disposed of within 180 days.<\/p>\n
Mohammed reminded both parties to be mindful of the life span of the
\nmatter especially as they hoped to call witnesses in the case.<\/p>\n
The judge adjourned the matter until Nov 16, 17, and 18 for the APC to
\nopen and close its case while Obaseki would do the same thereafter.<\/p>\n
The suit filed by the APC and William Edobor has Obaseki, Peoples
\nDemocratic Party, (PDP), and the Independent National Electoral
\nCommission (INEC) as defendants.<\/p>\n
Counsel to Obaseki, Mr. Ken Mozia (SAN) informed the court that he had
\nrecently been served with a reply to his statement of defence.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are filing a process challenging the competence of portions of the
\nsaid reply of the APC,\u201d he told the court.<\/p>\n
He, however, said that he was not opposed to an adjournment and a date
\nfor the hearing.<\/p>\n
The plaintiffs, in their application, sought the court\u2019s declaration as
\nfalse, Obaseki\u2019s claim to have earned a degree from the University of
\nIbadan in 1979.<\/p>\n
They asked the court to declare as false and contrary to Section 31 of
\nthe Electoral Act 2010, Obaseki\u2019s claim in INEC\u2019S form CF 001 that he
\nobtained a degree in Classical Studies from the University of Ibadan.<\/p>\n
The plaintiffs further asked the court to declare that there was a
\ncontradiction in Obaseki\u2019s WAEC certificate.<\/p>\n
In their petition, the plaintiffs had asked the court to make an order
\ndisqualifying Obaseki from contesting the Sept. 19 governorship election
\nin Edo.<\/p>\n
The plaintiffs further asked the court to make another order directing
\nINEC to remove Obaseki\u2019s name from the list of nominated candidates for
\nthe election.
\nThe plaintiffs, in addition, asked the court to make an order that the
\nPDP had no candidate in the Sept. 19 governorship election.(NAN)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Federal High Court, Abuja on Wednesday, adjourned until Nov. 16, hearing in an alleged perjury suit against Gov. Godwin Obaseki of Edo. Justice Ahmed Mohammed fixed the date, after…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":49088,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-76771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n