The All Progressives Congress, APC and
its Governorship candidate in Anambra
State during the November 16 and 30
governorship elections in the state, Senator
Chris Nwabueze Ngige yesterday told the
Ishaq Bello-led Governorship Election
Petitions Tribunal sitting in Awka to
nullify the election.
Others who asked the tribunal to declare
fresh elections as a result of irregularities
that marred the entire exercise included the
Peoples Democratic Party, PDP and its
candidate in the election, Chief Tony
Nwoye and the All Progressives Congress,
APC.
They furthermore called on the tribunal to
declare fresh election and to disqualify the
candidate of the All Progressives Grand
Alliance , APGA, Chief Willie Obiano as
the sitting governor of the state in the
interest of democracy.
Addressing the tribunal yesterday shortly
before it adjourned sine-die to write its
judgement, APC, Ngige, PDP and Nwoye
insisted that the only option
left to correct
the anomalies was to conduct a fresh
election and declare the rightful winner to
become the authentic governor of the state.
However, the Independent National
Electoral Commission, INEC, APGA, and
Obiano who was sworn in on March 17,
urged the tribunal to uphold the election
because the petitioners had not provided
substantial evidence to prove that their
cases that the election was marred by
irregularities, as they alleged.
Addressing the tribunal, Counsel for Ngige,
Emeka Ngige, SANsubmitted that the
defence of the third respondent in the
matter (Obiano) ‘’failed totally,’’ adding
that the only person who could have
established whether the Obiano was
culpable on the issue of multiple
registration as well as giving false
information to INEC in the course of his
nomination, was INEC.
He, however, contended INEC, having
failed to call any witness, abandoned the
Obiano to his fate and allowed his defence
to collapse, arguing that that being the
case, the INEC –certified evidence before
the courtand the pleading of the petitioners
on EPT/AN/GOV/02/2013 and as well as
the ‘’evidence adduced by our witnesses on
the matter remain unchallenged,
unresponded to and uncontradicted, which
are conclusive proof for Obiano to be
disqualified and a fresh election conducted
in Anambra State.
Ngige who also, responded to the
submission of Onyechi Ikpeazu, SAN,
representing Obiano in the matter urged the
tribunal to hold that the accusation of
substance before the tribunal against his
client was that ‘’he submitted a forged
document to INEC for the election,’’
insisting that since INEC’s- certified true
copies in evidence in the tribunal
successfully established that Obiano, in
addition to the registration card which
number ended in 332 also registered and
got another voters’ card with the numbers
ending with 1172 as attached to Obiano’s
Form CF 001, which INEC certified as a
true copy, meaning that the earlier icard
ending with number 332 remained a forged
document.
Buttressing Ngige’s argument, Rotimi
Akeredolu SAN, urged the tribunal to take
a second look at Exhibit RR431 tendered
by Obiano, which he claimed was a transfer
form for his voters registration particulars
and discover that the title of the document
was merely a CVR application form.
’’My lord, DVR stands for Continuous
voter registration, which means that it
cannot be a transfer form, but an
application for a new form. The form
contains three sections and the third
respondent admitted that he completed and
signed Section 1 of the document where in
answer to a question on if he had registered
before, he wrote NO’ ’’Therefore his
evidence contradicted his claim in the
sense that, only those who had registered
before can transfer.
In the contrary, the form is meant for
application for a new form and the tribunal
is urged to find that as a fact,’’ Akeredolu
added, pointing out that the petitioner has
a duty to prove his case on his own, and
not rely on evidence adduced by any other.
The INEC, represented by Hassan Liman,
SAN noted in its submission that the
petitioners failed to display the three
concerned voterS’ registers to establish
through comparison how substantial, the
effect on the election was.
However, Michel M. Lana,SAN who
responded to INEC’s submissions,
countered the claim saying that his clients
(Senator Ngige and APC ) had displayed
the three registers- one issued on October
16, 2013, and the second issued on
November 13, 2013 as well as the third
being the register used for the conduct of
the elections on November 16, 2013 , and
established that all three registers differed
from each other.
Patrick Ikwueto representing APGA in his
submission urged the tribunal to dismiss
the case on the grounds that the petitioners
called very limited number of witnesses to
prove their case pointing out that granting
their reliefs would mean going against the
wishes of thousands of voters who
exercised their mandate in the disputed
elections.
Addressing the court through A O Ajana,
for the PDP, urged the tribunal to
disqualify Obiano and order fresh
elections, because INEC-certified
documents represented conclusive proof on
the matter which was not challenged, just
as Counsel for Comrade Tony Nwoye,
Ukala, SAN also argued in similar manner
in Petition No EPT/AN/GOV/04/2013, to
arrive at the same conclusion.
Chairman of the tribunal Justice Bello
commended all parties and counsel for
their maturity during the proceedings and
noting that as judges adjudicating on the
matter ‘’we, ourselves are under trial.’’ The
court reserved judgment in the matter and
adjorned the case sine die
No comments:
Post a Comment