Tribunal dismisses petition challenging Reps deputy speaker, Benjamin Kalu’s election

The National Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Umuahia on Tuesday dismissed a petition challenging the election of the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu.

The Labour Party candidate, Chief Frank Chinasa, challenged Kalu’s victory in the February 25 National Assembly election held in Bende Federal Constituency of Abia State.

In the petition filed by his counsel, Mr. Yunus Usman (SAN), the LP candidate urged the tribunal to set aside all the votes in favour of Kalu because he was not qualified to participate in the election.

The petitioner told the tribunal that the deputy speaker was not qualified to participate in the election because he did not possess the requisite educational requirements in line with Section 65(2)(a) of the 1999 Constitution.

READ ALSO: Benjamin Kalu drops out of Speakership race, accepts Deputy position

He argued that Kalu used different names in different educational certificates, other than Kalu Benjamin Okezie, which was his current name.

The chairman of the three-member panel, Justice Samson Paul-Gang, dismissed the petition for lack of merit.

He urged all parties to bear the administrative cost.

The judge ruled that the petitioners failed to prove their case beyond reasonable doubt and dismissed the case accordingly.

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