Our Correspondent|3 January 2019
There was mild drama at the Appeal Court in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, where the appeal over who should fly the flag of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the 2019 presidential elections was supposed to hold.
The case which is between the SDP, Chief Olu Falae, Prof. Tunde
Adeniran, Alhaji Shehu Gabam, and Donald Duke Vs Prof. Jerry Gana and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was billed for hearing at the court on 31st December 2018 but was later adjourned due to what seemed to be a deliberate ploy by Prof. Jerry Gana to delay the matter.
As at 9:10 am, Gana, his eldest son Joshua and his lawyers were all in the court premises but by about 9:25am when the registrar of the court was checking if all parties involved were in court, the Gana group, except his lawyers bolted out of the court premises.
Our correspondent gathered that Gana had informed his lawyers that they did not have his consent to represent him in court, because according to him, he had not been served the notice of appeal but upon further findings, the registrar confirmed that Gana’s lawyers were served the notice of appeal on 24th December 2018, the registrar further told the court that Gana had taken every measure possible to evade being served the notice of appeal.
When the case was eventually called Gana was not in court, making
the presiding judge to give an order for substituted service of the notice of appeal to be posted and pasted of at Gana’s gate. He also directed that photographs of the posted order on his gate be taken as evidence.
The case was adjourned till 3rd January 2019.
Some members of the party who spoke to our correspondent
said they were confident the decision of the high court will be reversed, saying it was evidenced in the theatrics of Jerry Gana.
