Dayo Johnson
20 November 2008
Ahead of the hearing of the appeal against the judgment of the lower tribunal in the governorship election in Ondo State, Governor Olusegun Agagu yesterday accused the legal team of the Labour Party (LP), candidate, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, of evading the service of his amended brief of argument.
Addressing newsmen in Akure on the development, a counsel in Agagu's team, Mr. Babatunde Adesina, alleged that the office of the candidate's counsel was shut when the bailiff from Benin got there to serve the brief.
But, in a swift reaction, one of the counsel to Mimiko denied the allegation, saying, "It is not true that my office was locked throughout the day on Tuesday."
Mr. Remi Olatubora, who described the allegation as baseless and mischievous, noted that the papers on the petition were supposed to be served on the lead counsel, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN) and not him.
He said the bailiff knew where to go and that Agagu's team was just trying to raise unnecessary alarm.
Adesina added that Agagu's legal team had since Monday filed an amended brief of argument and that all effort to serve Mimiko's team in Benin was rebuffed.
He alleged that Mimiko's team insisted that the service be done in Akure and that after the bailiff arrived Akure it allegedly refused to take the brief.
According to him, the bailiff travelled from Benin on Tuesday and left Olatubora's office about 10 p.m. without serving the brief.
He added that the bailiff also went to the hotel where the legal team used as office but all attempts to serve it also were unsuccessful.
"The service address has remained closed since Monday in a desperate bid to evade the service of the brief of our argument. All these pranks is to buy time. We have five days to file our brief and that we have done under constraints to meet the deadline. They too have five days to reply, but, instead of receiving the brief they are avoiding it in order to extend the number of days they are expected to reply."
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