Proceedings at the National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Asaba, the Delta State capital, took a dramatic turn on Friday when a middle aged man who was presumed dead made a surprise appearance in court.
One Christopher Anirah was subpoenaed by the tribunal to give evidence in the ongoing trial in an election petition matter between Mr. Gibson Ighofose Akporehe of the All Progressives Congress and Evelyn Omavowan Oboro of the Peoples Democratic Party.
Akporehe, a former candidate in the just concluded House of Representative election for Okpe, Sapele and Ovwie federal constituency, through his counsel, Mr. Charles Umweni, had told the tribunal that the witness it intended to call (Anirah) could not come to the tribunal to testify because he was dead.
He told the tribunal that Anirah died of cardiac attack and could not be subpoenaed to give evidence.
But at the resumed hearing of the matter on Friday in Asaba, somebody, who claimed to be Anirah, stormed the tribunal and stepped into the witness box to give evidence when the chairman of the three-man tribunal panel, Justice Adebukole Banjoko, called out the name.
The move temporarily created commotion in the tribunal as the bewildered audience started shuffling and murmuring in low tones on a sudden appearance of a “dead man” in the court, prompting Justice Banjoko to call for calm.
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