Akwa Ibom: Appeal Court wants fresh guber poll

It was yet another bad in the hands of the judiciary for the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, as the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja, Friday, nullified the election of Governor Udom Emmanuel on the grounds of irregularities that characterised the April 11, 2015 poll in the state.

The court, in an unanimous decision by the Justice Uwani Abba-Aji-led five man panel, ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission to conduct fresh election in the entire 31 local government areas of the state within 90 days.

In nullifying Emmanuel’s election, the court set aside the judgment of the Akwa Ibom State Governorship Election Petition Tribuna, ordering a fresh election in 18 out of the 31 local government areas of the state.

Justice Oludotun Adeofope-Okojie, in the lead judgment, upheld the appeal by the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Okon Umana, to the effect that the election was not conducted in substantial compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act.

It also ruked that there was over-voting during the election and that the ‎the result announced by INEC returning the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party as winner, was a mere allocation of figures as there was no evidence of collation of results at all levels, adding that while the card reader machine recorded the accreditation of 437, 128 voters, the INEC announced total votes 1,222,836, leading to a clear evidence of over-voting.

Justice Adefope-Okojie insisted that both the PDP and Emmanuel failed to discharge the burden on proof placed on them by the evidence led by Umana and his party.

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