By Abiodun Alade

Barrister Okon Kalu, one of the lawyers to the lawmaker representing Abia North Senatorial District, Senator Mao Ohuabunwa, has stated that the bailiff of the Abia North rerun Petition Tribunal did not effect any service on Sen. Ohuabunwa.

Barrister Okon was reacting to a publication in a newspaper, owned by the first petitioner in the case, alleging that a bailiff who claimed to have served Ohuabunwa at Arochukwu was allegedly attacked.

Barr Okon who spoke on behalf of the legal team said the bailiff is already facing criminal charges for alleged perjury which is before the tribunal. He went further to state that the affidavit deposed to by the bailiff contained a lot of inconsistent statements; for instance she(the bailiff) stated that “she did not know who Senator Mao Ohuabunwa is and had to get someone (of an undisclosed identity) to point him to her” and yet in a further affidavit averred that “she knows Senator Ohuabunwa very well having acted as an interpreter in the previous election petitions tribunal of 2015 in which Senator Mao Ohuabunwa was a similar respondent”.

These two assertions are in diametrical contradiction, according to the legal expert.

“The bailiff neither saw Senator Mao Ohuabunwa nor made the purpotted service on him as claimed; Arochukwu town has no stadium,” he noted.

It was gathered that the distinguished Senator and his numerous guests were  in the church on Easter Monday morning for his Thanksgiving service at the time of the purported service on him in a stadium.

“It is rather unfortunate that a court staff will allow herself to be used by desperate individuals who are out to subvert the course of law and justice as such acts can only bring the judiciary to disrepute and public opprobrium. Such characters should indeed have no place in our judicial system,” he added.

This is coming as there are allegations that the bailiff was driven from Umuahia to Arochukwu town by an aide of a former governor of the state.
Former governor of Abia state and candidate of the Peoples Progressive Alliance, Orji Kalu is challenging the declaration of Ohuabunwa of the People’s Democratic Party as the winner of the election.
Recalled that INEC organized the March 5 rerun election following the cancellation of the 28th March, 2015 poll won by Sen. Ohuabunwa by the Appeal Court. In the rerun election, Ohuabunwa won four out of the five Local Government areas of the Senatorial District while Kalu won in his LGA- Bende.