Akwa Ibom APC Governorship Petition Ends On A Sad Note -As Tribunal Wraps Up Hearing

Otobong Nsekpong

The petition of the All Progressives Congress candidate in the April 11,2015 governorship election before the election petition tribunal ended on a sad note following the inability of the legal team to prove allegations as contained in their petition.

The Electoral Act stipulates that in a case of ‘no election’ as contained in APC petition to be established, the petitioner must prove its case polling unit by polling unit.

At the end of the tribunal sitting yesterday, it was discovered that although there are 2,980 polling Units in Akwa Ibom State, APC only presented 52 witnesses which fall short of the requirements of the Electoral Act as amended.

Again documents gathered from the Court Registry indicate why Mr Umana’s petition may have been an exercise contradictions and inconsistencies in Mr Umana’s pleadings and evidence. For instance, according to the document, Mr Umana’s petition in paragraph 22 had claimed that “Card Readers were not used” at all and yet they expect the Judges to rely on Exhibit 317, the Card Reader data which they tendered and which clearly confirms that there were successful accreditation for the Election using the Card Reader. “Those two positions are clearly irreconcilable,” they held.

Mr Umana also failed to prove his claim in paragraphs 37 to 47 that election materials were not distributed or supplied.

Interacting with newsmen, counsel to PDP, Tayo Oyetibo SAN said what happens in court is quite different from what is reported on the social media maintaining that the case must be proven with hard evidence which is why they all ignored reports on social media. “We have done our best in the presentation of fact and evidence before the court and ignored completely reports in the media”

Obong Paul Ekpo, the PDP chairman in Akwa Ibom state lauded the neutrality, thoroughness of the tribunal urging all its supporters to remain calm while awaiting the ruling of the tribunal.

After the adoption of final arguments from all the parties, the tribunal reserved its judgment for a future date that will be communicated to all parties.