By Harry Awurumibe, Head, Abuja Bureau
A mammoth crowd and irritating noise warranted the security operatives deployed at the Supreme Court of Nigeria, Abuja Monday morning to bring in Police dogs to help to restore sanity for the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) Justice Tanko Muhammad to continue the hearing of the governorship appeals from six states of the federation slated for today.
Justice Muhammad had frowned at the inability of the security operatives to control the crowd and the noise level inside Court 1.
He had led a seven-man panel of justices hearing the appeals from the governorship elections in Imo, Bauchi, Sokoto, Kano, Plateau, and the Benue States but the court rose some minutes after the hearing commenced due to the crowd and the noise level in the court.
However, two Police Dogs handlers moved quick to restore normalcy but not after the CJN called for the decongestion of the courtroom even as he directed counsels representing the parties not to appear with more than five lawyers.
The hearing resumed as soon as the situation was put under control after many people were asked to leave.
The apex court is hearing the appeals filed by the governorship candidates 10 months after the elections held in the affected states.
The governors returned elected by the independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the states are Emeka Ihedioha (Imo), Bala Mohammed (Bauchi), Aminu Tambuwal (Sokoto), Abdullahi Ganduje (Kano), Simon Lalong (Plateau), and Samuel Ortom (Benue).
The appeals were brought before the court by various aggrieved candidates in the March 9 polls in the affected states.
