Tribunals busy as aggrieved contestants head to court in Delta, A'Ibom

Aggrieved contestants in the April 9 National Assembly elections have, till tomorrow, to file petitions on perceived irregularities during the elections under provisions of the 2010 Electoral Act.


Meanwhile, rival candidates to Governors Emmanuel Uduaghan and Godswill Akpabio of Delta and Akwa Ibom states, yesterday, served notice of legal challenges to their declared electoral victories in the governorship election tribunals.


The legal attack against Governor Akpabio who flew the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, gubernatorial flag in last Tuesday’s election came in the wake of an internal crisis within the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, over a reported congratulation to the victorious governor by the state chapter of the party.

Meanwhile, some opposition politicians with progressive inclination have commenced consultations towards unifying their ranks in the aftermath of their botched effort in unseating the incumbent PDP administration. At the centre of the ongoing talks is Second Republic radical politician, Dr. Tunji Braitwaithe.

Under Section 134 of the 2010 Electoral Act, petitions against the declared results must be filed at the secretariat of the election petition tribunal in the state where the election was conducted within 21 days after the declaration of the results.

Most of the results of the elections from the National Assembly elections for the Senate and the House of Representatives were declared within three days after the conduct of the election on April 9.
The requisite provision of the electoral act states thus:
(1) An election petition shall be filed within 21 days after the declaration of the results of the elections.
(2) An election tribunal shall deliver its judgment in writing within 180 days from the date of filing of the petition.
(3) An appeal from a decision of an election tribunal or court shall be heard and disposed off within 90 days from the date of the delivery of judgment of the tribunal.

Delta State

Delta State Chairman of DPP, Chief Tony Ezeagwu, disclosed the party’s readiness to contest last week’s governorship result which returned Uduaghan, the PDP’s candidate as winner.
  “We are putting in the necessary machinery in motion to pursue the case to its logical conclusion both the one held on January 6 that was the re-run and last Tuesday’s governorship.
“We are not going to collapse the two because they are two separate elections and let me tell you we are going to get justice by the grace of God. The tribunal is the final arbiter, we (DPP) won the election clearly, that is all I can tell you.”

Meanwhile, two election petitions tribunals have been constituted for Delta State.

Unlike in the past when only one tribunal handled cases arising from both governorship and legislative elections, one of the tribunals would now be in charge of the petitions from the governorship election while the other would handle only matters from the legislative elections.

Secretary of the two electoral panels, Deborah Musa, told reporters that while the governorship election petition tribunal will be sitting at High Court 5, Umuda Layout, the legislative election petition tribunal will sit at High Court 3, adjacent the Asagba of Asaba palace.

She called on the would be litigants to also be conscious of the fact that litigants have 21 days from date results were declared to file petitions while the court has 180 days to dispose such cases.

ACN to challenge Akpabio’s victory
The ACN has also given its determination to challenge the declared result of the Akwa Ibom gubernatorial election in the tribunal. The party’s claim came against the congratulation extended to the victorious candidate of the PDP and incumbent Governor, Chief Godswill Akpabio by the ACN chairman in Akwa Ibom State.

The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in a terse rebuttal of the congratulation extended to Akpabio by Aniekan Akpan, the ACN state chairman in Akwa Ibom said the state chairman was a deviant who was acting on his own.

The party said Akpan acted on his own and that his action should be disregarded by all members and supporters of the ACN because it did not represent the stand of the party.

It said necessary disciplinary action would be meted out to the deviant chairman,adding: “Aniekan Akpan has not always acted in consonance with the ideals of our party, and his romance with Governor Akpabio is not a secret. But as a party that believes in fairness and justice, every member is entitled to the benefit of doubt until he or she decides to dance naked in the public square, as the Akwa Ibom state chairman has now done.

“The standard procedure is for the National Executive Committee to meet and deliberate on the elections, take reports from all stakeholders in the states and then set up a legal team to examine submission from the various states. It is only after this that the party can take a stand on the elections.’’

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Linkedin
• Pinterest

Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday


Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users

You Might Also Like

« PREV

NEXT »