PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan has won the first legal battle at the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal.
Yesterday, the tribunal sitting in Abuja threw out the petition lodged by Hope Democratic Party (HDP), challenging Jonathan's victory in the April 16, 2011 presidential polls and the interlocutory application seeking an order to stop his inauguration tomorrow.
Prior to the tribunal's decision, a counsel, Mr. Tochukwu Alozor, whose name was on the HDP's petition as the one who filed the petition, disowned it. He submitted that the signature on the petition was not his even though it was signed on top of his name.
Alozor said when he heard that a petition was written by him on behalf of the party, he proceeded to see the HDP Chairman, Chief Ambrose Owuru, who refused to discuss the issue with him.
The lawyer said he was left with no other option but to appear before the court as an interested party.
Effort by a new counsel, Mr. E.J. Ogar to take over the prosecution of the matter to discredit Alozor's claim did not yield dividends.
Counsel to the President, Dr. Alex Aigbe Izinyon (SAN) prayed the court to dismiss the application for an injunction to stop the inauguration in view of the fact that no proper case was filed before the court.
He said once the person who purportedly filed and signed the petition had denied same, it meant that there was no petition to sustain the application for an injunction to stop the inauguration.
However, counsel to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Abubakar Mahmoud (SAN), urged the court to exercise restraint even as he also urged it not to halt the President's inauguration.
To resolve the puzzle, the Justice Ayo Isa Salami-led panel stood the matter down for 10 minutes and went into its chambers for consultation.
Upon the panel's return, it drew Ogar's attention to a new application filed by him yesterday, seeking to withdraw the entire petition.
The court asked him what he intended to do with the new application, to which, he said he was ready to move.
While moving the application, he said the petitioner was no longer interested in maintaining the petition having congratulated Jonathan as the winner of the election.
All other counsel did not oppose the withdrawal of the petition.
Izinyon asked the court to strike it out on the grounds that there was no petition before the court. Mahmoud, however, said the proper order to make was to dismiss the case. He also asked for cost.
In dismissing the petition, Salami said even though the petitioner did not follow the procedure for withdrawing a petition, the court was ready to indulge him.
He said the court found it expedient to grant the application by striking it out.
Source: Tribunal Dismisses Petition Against Jonathan (http://ngrguardiannews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=49474:tribunal-dismisses-petition-against-jonathan&catid=1:national&Itemid=559)