Babu Owino to know his election petition fate next week

Babu Owino to know his election petition fate next week

The High Court will on Wednesday next week make a ruling on whether to strike out Babu Owino’s response to a petition filed challenging his election as Embakasi East MP in the August 8 General Election.

Jubilee Party’s Francis Mureithi, who is contesting Owino’s win, says that the respondent disregarded the law when he presented his response after 12 days instead of seven after the petition was filed.

Through his lawyer Ham Lang’at, Mureithi argues that Mr. Owino has not provided the court with substantive reason as to why he delayed to respond.

In an affidavit, Babu, real name Paul Ongili, says the reason why he delayed in submitting his response is because he was served through publication in a local newspaper that skipped his attention.

The petitioner, however, has dismissed these claims terming them as ‘unreasonable’.

“The respondent is responsible for own delay. It is negligence for an MP to allege he didn’t see an advert in a widely circulated daily,” said Langat.

On his part Babu’s defense team said that their late response should even be appreciated as they were not served with the petition officially.

“It’s our submission that the late filing can’t prejudice the petition as our action is reasonable and have strong basis,” submitted Counsel Jackson Awele.

Tags:

JUBILEE NASA ODM party Election Petition Francis Mureithi Babu Owino alias Paul Ongili

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