Enugu poll: Tribunal upholds Ugwuanyi’s election

AUGUST 22, 2015 : IHUOMA CHIEDOZIE
Leave a Comment
The Enugu State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal on
Friday upheld the election of Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi in the
April 11, 2015 governorship election.
The tribunal struck out the petition filed by the governorship
candidate of the All Progressives Congress in the state, Okey
Ezea, on the grounds that it was frivolous, lacked merit and was
an abuse of the court process.
A cost of N150, 000 was equally awarded in favour of each of
the respondents in the petition.
Delivering the judgement, which lasted over three hours, the
chairman of the tribunal, Justice Kwajafa Hildad, held that
several paragraphs of Ezea’s petition were earlier struck out for
being imprecise and vague.
Hildad said the petition equally contained criminal allegations
against people who were not made parties to the case.
He added that the petitioner’s allegations of over-voting and
non-accreditation, through the manipulation of the card reader
by the Independent National Electoral Commission and other
respondents, were not sufficiently proved as it is only the
voter’s register that could determine the number of people that
voted in an election.
He maintained that the petitioner failed to provide the voter’s
register to prove his case.
The tribunal also noted that the petitioner only provided six
witnesses drawn from only six out of the 2,958 polling units in
the state, a figure described as insufficient.
The tribunal held that the six witnesses admitted that the
governorship election was free, fair and peaceful “with minor
irregularities which were not sufficient enough to cancel the
election”.
The tribunal added that the APC candidate failed to prove the
allegation of falsification of result figures, maintaining that mere
assertion that the figures were falsified was not enough
evidence. It therefore dismissed the petition and upheld
Ugwuanyi’s election as valid.
Reacting to the judgement, the state chapter of the Peoples
Democratic Party described it as “a reflection of the wishes of
the majority of the people of Enugu State”.
The Publicity Secretary of the PDP in the state, Dr. Okey Eze,
said the judgement had proved that the governor was freely
elected by the people.
Copyright PUNCH. All rights reserved. This material, and other digital
content on this website, may not be reproduced, published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior
express written permission from PUNCH.
Contact: editor@punchng.com