Asuquo vs YPP, Andy & OBA:Serial errors, self-contradiction shame Asuquo in court

*admits to committing blunders

An absurd drama ensued at the Federal High Court in Uyo on Friday as Alexander Asuquo Esq., the applicant in the suit challenging the governorship candidacy of Senator Bassey Albert in the Young Progressives Party (YPP), was cross examined.

Asuquo Esq. who had earlier adopted his statement on oath as his evidence in chief, was clearly fumbled when asked pertinent questions relating to the matter.

Represented by N. C. Ikono Esq., Asuquo had earlier alleged that YPP State Chairman, Apostle Nyeneime Andy violated the YPP constitution by vying for governorship without resigning as state chairman.
However, on cross examination, when asked to point at the section of the constitution, he could not.

When lead counsel to Andy, C. N. Nwigwe queried his membership of the YPP because he failed to attach his membership card to the case file, he said he forgot and apologized saying, "it was an oversight on our part."

"And you are a lawyer, quite serious," Justice A. A. Okeke retorted.

On his attempt to challenge the eligibility of Senator Bassey Albert as candidate of the party, he was asked if he was aware that Apostle Andy officially withdrew from the race, a situation which led to the conduct of another primaries on June 1st, 2022.
On this, he said such exercise did not hold, but later contradicted himself by saying that it held but was marred by irregularities.
Clerk of the court intervened to restore calm as the court erupted in laughter following his response.

Counsel to YPP,  E. N. Akpabio argued that Asuquo has no business challenging the conduct of the primaries since he neither procured the YPP governorship nomination and expression of interest forms nor participated in the primaries. Responding, he alleged that the party barred him from purchasing the form.

His claim that he joined YPP because of its impressive ideology was challenged when attention was drawn to his written statement that he instantly made up his mind to join after seeing the official phone line of YPP on the website of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Counsel also challenged the authenticity of documents tendered by the plaintiff on grounds that all are vague and computer generated, insisting that they violate the Evidence Act.

Defendants' legal teams however shelved further objections till the final address.

The case was adjourned to September 19, 2022 for adoption of written addresses.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Akwa Ibom Stakeholders reject Water Resources Bill

Image
Citizen M.K.O A group of Akwa Ibom stakeholders comprising of traditional rulers politicians, academic dons, entrepreneurs, clerics, students and persons from other fields of endeavours have rejected the controversial Water Resources Bill. Converging at the auditorium of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Akwa Ibom State Council in Uyo, over the weekend the stakeholders, in a communique issued at the end of extensive deliberations featuring clause-by-clause analysis of the Bill, dismissed the Bill, describing it as oppressive and exploitative. The bill which was initially introduced and later rejected by the lawmakers during the 8th Assembly following public outcry, was reintroduced in the current 9th National Assembly in 2020. Again, it is facing much backlash from Nigerians.  The stakeholders who convened under the aegis of 'Open Forum', an advocacy platform hosted by Citizen Matthew Koffi Okono, particularly condemned Section 98 of the Bill which states that, “the...
Read more

Akan Okon vs. Umo Eno: Prof Jideoni petitions security agencies against blogger for libel

Image
Professor Jideoni Charles, a Professor of Professor of Graphognomy (Handwriting Analysis), Professor of English Language, and a linguist, has petitioned security agencies against an Uyo based blogger, Wisdom Bassey, over alleged libel. Prof Jideoni had carried out forensic investigation into the West African Examination Council certificate tendered by the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Pastor Umo Eno, before the Federal High Court sitting in Uyo, in his case against governorship aspirant, Mr Akan Okon, and adjudged same as unoriginal. The petition, as sighted by newsmen over the weekend, condemned a "damaging false report carried out by one Mr Wisdom Bassey who works online with Newsline9ja.com on the account of slander and libel against me in a newspaper publication by GLOBAL PILOT earlier this year." According to the petition, Bassey acted on unverified false allegations, that Prof Jideoni was never a staff of Obafemi Awolowo University,...
Read more

We're doing quality dualization work on Calabar-Itu Highway - SEMARTECH

Image
* As Senator Ita Enang insists on timely completion By Ofonime Honesty SEMARTECH Nigeria Limited, a construction firm handling a section of dualization project of the Calabar-Itu Highway has highly rated work done so far by the company. Speaking when the immediate past Senior Special Assistant to the President on Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Ita Enang paid an unscheduled visit on the project site, SEMARTECH Site Supervisor, Engr. Joe Ukpata gave a breakdown of the company's involvement so far on the project and assured the governorship hopeful and the public that the firm is complying totally with global standards. "We are in charge of 28.6km of the project. Dualization is ongoing with drains and asphalt work. As we move further, we have four different bridges on our stretch which we are working on. SEMARTECH portion starts at the power plant Odukpani down to Oku Iboku, then Julius Berger continues from there. "The One Kilometer stretch from Oku Ib...
Read more