The Kogi Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja, on Monday, ordered the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Olayemi Cardoso, to unfailingly appear before it on Tuesday.
The governor is required to appear to offer some explanations on the role of the apex bank in the November 11, 2023, off-cycle election in Kogi State.
The three-member panel of justices, led by Justice Ado Birnin-Kudu, also threatened to wield the big stick on the CBN’s Director of Corporate Service.
The summon followed an application by Alex Izinyon (SAN), counsel for Governor Usman Ododo of Kogi State, the second respondent in the petition filed by the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and its candidate in the governorship election in the State.
The tribunal, on April 18, issued a subpoena to compel the CBN governor or any of its officers to attend the proceedings to give evidence concerning the allegation leveled by Governor Ododo that the petitioners filed the petition against him outside the 21 days allowed by law.
Although the panel directed the CBN governor or its officer to appear on April 19 to testify, no one represented the apex bank at the hearing.
Meanwhile, shortly after Paul Daudu, who appeared for the governor, led the witnesses in evidence on Monday and after they were cross-examined, the lawyer told the panel that he was instructed by the leader of the team to hand over the case to him until the next adjourned date.
Izinyon then told the tribunal that those witnesses taken by Daudu were the ones they had for the day.
The senior lawyer told the panel that he was aware that the CBN management, in a letter to the tribunal, said they would not be available until Friday, April 26, pursuant to their application for subpoena.
He said that though the second respondent (Ododo) had planned to call his witnesses within five days, the issue of the subpoena must be dealt with before proceeding.
Izinyon, who said he expected an officer from the legal department of CBN to be at the tribunal on Monday, described the letter written to the tribunal by the apex bank as “an act of contempt.”
He said subpoena, by nature, is in the name of the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.
– NAN