Bayelsa Election Tribunal Receives 31 Petitions

The Election Tribunal in Bayelsa state received 31 petitions on Thursday, emanating from the National and state Assembly elections in the state.

The tribunal’s chairman, Justice O. Fagbemi, in her inaugural address to formally begin the tribunal proceedings, urged litigants and counsels not to seek unnecessary adjournments through frivolous applications and preliminary objections that could waste the time of the court.

She enjoined the litigants to cooperate to ensure speedy justice as the tribunal was time-bound.

She said, “We solicit your support and cooperation in administering justice to all manner of people via petition filed before the tribunal. As it is described, election petitions before the tribunal are time bound and by their nature peculiar from other proceedings.

“We undertake to abide by our oath of office and mandate in dispensing justice with the help of God Almighty.

“We seize this opportunity to admonish counsels and litigants to desist from seeking unnecessary incessant adjournments and filing of frivolous applications and  preliminary objections which is time wasting, purely an academic exercise, an exercise in futility aimed at perverting the course of justice.”