The
Chief Justice, Justice Emmanuel O. Fagbenle, yesterday presided over the civil
case involving the Alliance for Patriotic Re-Orientation and Construction
(APRC) against the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) and the Attorney
General and Minister of Justice.
The
petition, filed by Bala Garba Jahumpa, the APRC Secretary General, at the
Supreme Court of The Gambia calls on the country’s apex court to declare the
1st December election null and void.
The
petition also urged the court to declare “Yahya Jammeh the duly elected
president of The Gambia, instead of Adama Barrow”, adding that Yahya Jammeh had
“more votes than Adama Barrow” in the 1st December 2016 election.
The
petition stated that the 1st December election was “invalid as [there was]
non-compliance with the Elections Act”, that “it was not conducted fairly and
in good faith”, and that the non-compliance seriously affected the credibility
of the result of the election and thereby rendering the result invalid.
The
petition further stated that the IEC, which is the statutory body responsible
for the proper conduct of elections in The Gambia failed to properly collate
the results of the election.
On
2 December 2016, the IEC declared the results and then, on 5 December, it
declared a different result having noticed some errors.
It
said no APRC representative was present when the said revision was made,
neither was it signed by the APRC representative, Hon. Seedy S.K. Njie.
It
further stated that on the polling day, the of 1 December 2016 in the Upper
River Region; “25,000 APRC supporters who were on the queue to cast their vote
for Yahya Jammeh were intimidated by the IEC presiding officers, and were not
allowed to cast their vote and were sent home by these officers”.
The
petition further stated that the non-compliance also includes complaints of
some irregularities in the conduct of voting in the Lower Fulladu West
constituency.
During
the court sitting yesterday, the Chief Justice Fagbenle disclosed that the
Supreme Court was not properly constituted as it did not have the quorum of
five Judges, but that the Judiciary was expecting judges from the Federal
Republic of Nigeria and the Republic of Sierra Leone.
He
said some Supreme Court judges were appointed since July 2016, and would be
coming to attend the next court sitting.
The
Chief Justice further said the IEC were not served with the notice of
yesterday’s proceeding, but would endearvour to serve the IEC before the next
sitting.
The
matter was then adjourned until 10 January 2017, for hearing.
The
APRC was represented by veteran lawyer Edward Gomez and the Attorney General
and Minister of Justice was represented by the Solicitor General and Legal
Secretary, Saffie Sankareh.
Meanwhile,
Mayor Yankuba Colley of the Kanifing Municipal Council led the APRC delegation.
It
would be recalled that the Supreme Court of The Gambia had its last sitting in
May 2015 under the stewardship of the Pakistani Judge, Nawaz Chowhan.
