By Charles Adingupu
There was mild drama at the Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPC, sitting in Abuja Friday, when the court refused to entertain the brief brought by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria SAN, who had been retained by the Apapa-led faction of the Labour Party to represent Peter Obi.
As soon as the petition that LP and Obi brought before the court challenging the result of the February 25th polls was called up for hearing and lawyers were asked to announce their appearances, Chief Oba Maduabuchi, SAN, stood up and told the court that he had been briefed to represent the LP on the matter.
Maduabuchi was addressing the court shortly after Prof. Awa Kalu, SAN, alongside five other SANs, had announced their presence as counsel for the petitioners.
Justice Haruna Tsammani-led five-member panel of the court, therefore, declined to record Maduabuchi’s brief insisting that he came too late.
“You did not file this petition. Let the person that filed the case announce appearance. We cannot record you,” Justice Tsammani ruled.
Another member of the panel berated Maduabuchi, SAN, for accepting the brief when he was aware that the party already had its team of lawyers.
“As a learned silk, you should know better and you should have told whoever briefed you that there is another lawyer handling the matter,” a member of the panel added.
Realising that he would not be allowed to take over the case, Maduabuchi told the court he would go back and relate what happened to his client.
“That is not our business. You can either leave the court or sit and observe the proceedings,” Chairman of the panel, Justice Tsammani added.
Earlier, Obi, who was in court, had announced himself as the representative of the petitioners.
Remarkably, the two factional Chairmen of the party, Julius Abure and Lamidi Apapa, were both in court for the matter.
It will be recalled that irate youths, suspected to be LP supporters had on Tuesday, attacked Apapa at the court premises, accusing him of making himself a tool in the hands of people seeking to destroy the party.
