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Uduaghan Floors Ogboru Again at Tribunal
By Christopher Isiguzo , Amby Uneze in Owerri and Hammed Shittu
Delta State Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan has again defeated his arch rival, Chief Great Ogboru of the Democratic Peoples Party (DPP), as the governorship election petitions tribunal sitting in Asaba, the state capital, upheld his April 26 election as governor.
The tribunal, however, invalidated results from six local government areas.
Also, judicial victory came the way of Governors Martin Elechi of Ebonyi State, Sullivan Chime of Enugu State and their Kwara State counterpart, Alhaji AbdulFatah Ahmed, as the election petition tribunal sitting in the three states yesterday upheld their elections.
But Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha will have to wait till today for his fate as the governorship election petition tribunal sitting in Owerri, the state capital, delivers judgment in the petition brought by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate and former governor, Ikedi Ohakim.
The tribunal headed by Hon. Justice E.N Epijiome had on Wednesday received final addresses from the counsel to the parties in the Imo petition, after which the tribunal informed the parties to go and wait for further information regarding to the date of ruling.
The tribunal headed by Justice Joy Nwanna, in a four-hour judgment, delivered amid tight security held that, based on available evidence before it and after subtracting invalid votes in six of the 20 local government areas of the state, Governor Uduaghan of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) “still has the highest number of total votes cast and equally maintained two-third of the votes”.
The local government areas where the results of the election were declared invalid are as follows, Warri North, Warri South, Warri South-West, Ethiope West, Bomadi and Burutu.
According to the tribunal, after removing the invalid votes from those areas, Uduaghan scored 422,509 votes as against the petitioner, Ogboru who polled 410,552 votes.
The tribunal held that available evidence showed that elections were not conducted in the affected areas “as ballot papers, ballot boxes and other materials were not made available by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC”.
On the issue of electoral violence, the tribunal said the burden of proof lies with the petitioner and therefore held that the issue of electoral violence during the election was not proved beyond reasonable doubt by the petitioner as there was no documentary evidence to that effect.
“The return of Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan in April 26 gubernatorial election is lawful and done in accordance with law and the Electoral Act 2010,” the tribunal said.
After the victory verdict for Uduaghan, his supporters went wild with was jubilation. But the Chairman of DPP in the state, Chief Tony Ezeagwu, told newsmen shortly after the judgment that his party would appeal the verdict.
In a unanimous four-hour judgment, the tribunal in Ebonyi dismissed the petition filed by the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) candidate in the election, Sen. Julius Ucha, challenging Elechi’s election for lack of merit.
But Senator Ucha has declared his readiness to proceed on appeal, describing the tribunal judgment as “a miscarriage of justice”.
Ucha in his petition had prayed the tribunal to declare him as the winner of the election, claiming to have secured the highest number of votes cast in the polls.
Delivering the judgment in Abakaliki, the tribunal Chairman, Nuhu Galadanchi, said the petitioners failed to discharge the burden of proof placed on them by law.
According to him, the petitioners further failed to establish that elections in the 13 local government areas should be voided for reason of corrupt practices.
“According to the evidence laid before us in this petition and in the findings we have made, the petitioners have failed to discharge the burden of prove placed on them by law to establish that the election in the 13 local government areas were invalid or void by reasons of corrupt practices or no compliance as provided by the electoral act.
“The petitioners have failed to give cogent evidence to sustain all the grounds upon which they question the election. Consequently, we hereby refuse all the reliefs sought in this petition, and the petition is hereby accordingly dismissed,” he said.
The case was, however, dismissed without any award of cost by the tribunal.
In Enugu, the election tribunal presided over by Justice Sunday Otu upheld the election of Chime on the ground that the petition filed by the defeated candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the said election, Barrister Okey Ezea, against his election lacked merit.
The chairman said the petitioner was unable to provide necessary documents and witnesses to prove the alleged massive thumb-printing of ballot papers in favour of Chime.
On the issue of nomination of Chime as the PDP candidate during the primaries, the tribunal said it had no jurisdiction to entertain issues of primaries of political parties.
According to Otu, the tribunal has no jurisdiction to inquire into pre-election matters. The matter should have gone to the Federal High Court.
The tribunal unanimously dismissed the matter for lack of merit and awarded cost of N20, 000 each to Chime and his deputy, Mr. Sunday Onyebuchi.
Reacting to the judgment, the two governors hailed the judiciary for affirming the mandate freely given to them by the people of their respective states.
“We did not come this far by violence; we did not come this far through ambitious practices or by forcing people to put us in power.
We came this far because we were called and we responded positively to the call and the people of Ebonyi State endorsed our coming in”.
Meanwhile, the Gover-norship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Ilorin, the Kwara state capital last night upheld the election of Governor AbdulFatah Ahmed and his deputy, Mr. Peter Kisra of the PDP in the last April 26 poll.
The tribunal dismissed the petition of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) governorship candidate, Mohammed Dele Belgore (SAN) in that election
The tribunal also rejected the report of the forensic experts called by the petitioners as their argument cannot stand.
Belgore had approached the tribunal challenging the declaration of Ahmed as governor by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)’s, alleging that there were irregularities in the election as well as thuggery and substantial non compliance with Electoral Act 2010 as amended.
The chairman of the tribunal, Justice Ngozi Emehehu, in its over 8hours judgment, said the “petitioners have failed to show why they are entitled to their claim and the petition is hereby dismissed according.”
Source: This Day, 12th November 2011.
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