By Abiola Olawale
A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has struck out a criminal summon issued by a Magistrate Court against Edo State Governor-elect, Senator Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress(APC).
The presiding judge, Justice Charles Agbaza held that the summon issued by Magistrate Abubakar Mukhtar of the Wuse Magistrate Court in Abuja was not issued with requisite authority as the matter was not under his jurisdiction and contained errors of law.
Justice Agbaza also held that the proceedings of trial of Okpebholo before the Magistrate court were illegal and unconstitutional.
The judge held that the Magistrate Court also violated Okpebholo’s fundamental human right to a fair hearing as guaranteed under Section 36 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
Justice Agbaza ruled that the magistrate should have taken into account the evidence presented by Okpebholo before issuing such an order.
The judge, therefore, prohibited the magistrate from proceeding with the case.
The New Diplomat reports that on September 12, Magistrate Mukhtar ordered Okpebholo to appear in court on September 20, 2024 over allegations of a false statement regarding his date of birth made by Aginbatse, a state indigene.
The Magistrate summoned Okpebholo to appear before the court over accusations of providing conflicting dates of birth in his nomination forms submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the election.
However, Okpebholo approached the Federal High Court, Abuja seeking an order to quash the Magistrate’s summon. In a lawsuit filed by his legal counsel, Andrew Emwanta, Okpebholo argued that the action was intended to prevent him from running as a candidate in the September 21, 2024 poll and to disqualify him on false pretences.
Emwanta argued that the magistrate did not have jurisdiction to handle the matter in question as it was a pre-election issue, and Section 29 of the law grants jurisdiction to the Federal High Court.
