The Gambia’s top court has adjourned until January 10, a case filed by President Yahya Jammeh, who is seeking to annul the results of the presidential elections.
The Supreme Court, presided by Nigerian-born Chief Justice Emmanuel Fagbenle, ordered the adjournment.
This is because the chief defendant, the country’s Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) had not been summoned to attend.
Mr Barrow’s inauguration is due to take place on January 19.
Jammeh initially accepted the result but then reversed position a week later, stoking international concerns about the future of the tiny West African country.
His complaint to the court is about alleged irregularities in the ballot count by the IEC and charges that in one region his supporters were intimidated.
President Jammeh’s lawyer, Edward Gomez, informed the court that the IEC had not been served with a summons by Jammeh, the plaintiff.
As a result, Gomez argued, it was in the interest of justice to give time for the IEC to receive the papers requiring it to attend.
“In view of the case that the Independent Electoral Commission is not served, I hereby order that the case is adjourned till 10 January,” Judge Fagbenle announced.
Gomez told reporters afterwards: “Going to court is a right and is a process, and nobody should deny a party that right.
“That is all we are saying and at the end of the day it is the ruling of the court that matters. And I believe we will all abide by it and respect it.”
Experts say Jammeh has bought time for his bid to stay in office by taking his appeal to a court that has lain dormant since May 2015 and whose judges had been fired under President Jammeh’s orders save Fagbenle.
Court sources said six foreign judges, excluding Fagbenle, have now been appointed by Jammeh to serve on the Supreme Court.
Out of the total seven judges, five would hear the petition. If a review of the decision is sought by one of the parties, the case would then be considered by the full seven-member panel, the sources said.
![Rev. Fr. Anthony Odiong, a US-based Nigerian Louisiana Catholic priest, was arrested in Florida on Tuesday for possessing child pornography, according to law authorities. The suspect is reportedly accused of many other cases of sexual assault. The Waco, Texas, Police Department announced in a Facebook post on Tuesday that officers detained Father Anthony Odiong in Ave Maria, Florida, with assistance from the United States Marshals Service. Waco police announced in March that they had received "credible information" about a sexual assault allegedly committed by Odiong in Texas in 2012. “During the subsequent investigation, a case of possession of child pornography was uncovered,” the police said. The priest was apprehended in Florida by the Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force. The Waco Police Department said that he will be extradited to Texas. Odiong had previously served in the Archdiocese of New Orleans before being removed as priest in December of last year due to controversy over homilies in which he claimed, among other things, that the Catholic Church was being taken over by "the gays." At the time, the priest was also accused of abusive behaviour; a Louisiana lady claimed in U.S. bankruptcy court that Odiong had committed both financial and sexual abuse against her. Prior to joining the New Orleans Archdiocese, Odiong served in at least two Texas parishes. On Tuesday, Waco police stated that during their sexual assault investigation, "the presence of other survivors was revealed." “Multiple women have come forward to tell similar experiences as the sexual assault survivor who reported the initial allegation,” the police department said. “Survivors’ experiences ranged from sexual assault and indecent assault, more commonly recognised as groping, and financial abuse, with some survivors experiencing every element of Anthony Odiong’s manipulation.” The police said they “believe there may be more survivors, and we wish to speak with anyone who [has] had similar encounters” with the priest. The Archdiocese of New Orleans issued a brief news release on Tuesday noting Odiong's arrest in Florida. The archdiocese “encourages anyone with any information to contact law enforcement,” the release said.](https://chronicle.ng/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ezgif-6-4730550ede-450x300.jpg "Odiong: US-based Nigerian Catholic priest convicted over sexual assault")