There was a mild drama at the Court of Appeal, the venue of the Presidential Election Petitions Court on Wednesday when the judges’ delivering judgments slammed a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and counsel for the All-Progressives Congress (APC), Charles Uwensuyi-Edosomwan, for interruption.
Edosomwan was likely reacting to the long hours so far spent at the court as the Appeal Court Justices were delivering verdicts in what can best be described as a marathon judgment.
Fatigued after 8 hours of judgment delivery by the 5-man panel led by Justice Haruna Tsammani, the legal counsel at 5 pm asked the court to be brief and either “dismiss or allow” the petitions of the Labour Party and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi; against the victory of President Bola Tinubu of the APC.
You can’t interrupt judgment
Uwensuyi-Edosomwan, who interjected while judgment was being delivered said, “I have listened to your Lordship’s eloquent judgement.’’
However, one of the judges shut down the senior lawyer saying,
- ‘’Sorry please learned senior, you don’t have to interrupt judgment, we are delivering judgment and we are still on. Please leave the judgment where it is. If you are confused, when you get the judgment, you read it.”
When the lawyer said he was not confused but was only making a suggestion, one of the judges queried,
- “You don’t have to suggest to us how to deliver judgment. So, you seriously think that all five of us wouldn’t know that?”
Uwensuyi-Edosomwan, who subsequently apologized, took his seat while the judgment resumed.