Legal arguments for the reinstatement of the former governor of Bayelsa State, Chief Diepriye Alamieyeseigha, continued for over 10 hours at the Court of Appeal, Port Harcourt on Thursday, with the plaintiff asking the court to order his return to office for wrongful removal.
Alamieyeseigha, who was removed from office for alleged gross misconduct on December 9, 2005, is insisting that his removal did not comply with Section 188 (5 and 6) of the 1999 Constitution and should be reversed by the appellate court.
Alamieyeseigha had tendered the report of the impeachment panel headed by Chief Serena Spiff through his counsel, Prof. Albert Kasumu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, to show that he was not given fair hearing by the panel.
Kasumu, leading other senior lawyers, including Mr. Wole Olanipekun, SAN, told the court that the former governor was neither invited to appear before the panel nor was he represented by a counsel of his choice as stipulated by the constitution.
He argued that negation of constitutional provisions in the said sections rendered the purported impeachment a nullity.
The plaintiff pointed out that the violation of any aspects of the constitution should be resolved in his favour.
The respondents, led by Mr. Tayo Oyetibo, Mr. George Okoli and Yusuf Alli, all Senior Advocates of Nigeria , countered the move by the former governor to regain his seat, saying that the report of the impeachment panel was forged and should not be admitted by the court.
Okoli specifically asked the court to set up a panel to probe the authenticity of the report of the impeachment panel, saying that it was a criminally doctored document.
Oyetibo had earlier raised a motion for a stay of proceeding in the case, noting that he had filed another motion at the Supreme Court for the determination of the application for stay of execution.
He argued that proceeding with the case would render the action of the superior court impotent and amount to a breach of the rule of the court.
But Alamieyeseigha�s counsel prayed the court, presided over by Justice Sulaiman Galadima, to strike out the request since it was an abuse of the court processes.
Ruling on that motion, Justice Galadima, struck out the motion on the ground that there was no evidence that the motion for a stay of proceeding had been filed at the Supreme Court.
The court noted that there was no date and receipt on the said motion to certify that the matter had been filed at the superior court.
He said it would announce a date for ruling on whether Alamieyeseigha would be reinstated or not.