The Peoples Democratic Party has called on the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice ZAINAB BULKACHUWA, to remove Justice VICTOR OKORIE, from one of the panels of the Rivers State National and House of Assembly Elections Petitions Tribunal sitting in Abuja. You will recall that Justice OKORIE was earlier reassigned from his former position as Chairman of the Rivers State National Assembly Election Tribunal to his current position as an ordinary member of an election panel following a petition by the PDP. The PDP had in its petition to Justice BULKACHUWA, contended that Justice OKORIE, by virtue of his status as a judicial officer in the Customary Court of Appeal of Imo State, was not qualified to act as the head of an election petition tribunal. However in a fresh petition to the Justice BULKCHUWA, the lawyer to the PDP, GODWIN OBLA, who is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, insisted that Justice OKORIE should not be allowed to serve on any election petition tribunal’s panel on the grounds of likelihood of bias against the party. OBLA urged the President of the Court of Appeal, who appoints judges serving in the election petitions tribunals in the country, to take the necessary step to address the PDP’s concern and remove Justice VICTOR OKORIE from all the election petitions tribunals nationwide involving the party.
The PDP counsel noted that since the judge was not ready to disqualify himself, the party feared that Justice OKORIE was likely to be bias against his party following the role it played in his removal as chairman of the former panel.
