Appeal Court Upholds Akpabio’s Election

Akpabio, as senator representing Akwa Ibom North-West Senatorial District of Akwa Ibom State.

In a unanimous verdict delivered by Justice Moshood Oredola, the Appeal Court dismissed the appeal case against Akpabio’s election for being devoid of merit.

In reaching that decision, the appellate court upheld the decision of the Election Tribunal, which had earlier appended its judicial seal to Akpabio’s election.

In the judgment that spanned about 75 minutes, Justice Oredola held that although there was an error in one of the nomination papers of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which indicated that Senator Akpabio stood for election for Akwa Ibom North-East, the mistake was however successfully corrected in all other documents.

The three-man panel of justice also held that the oral evidence of Appellant’s witness, that of the People’s Democratic Party and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) successfully rebutted the case of non-qualification alleged by the appellant.

The court also said that Senator Akpabio met the requirements of section 65 (2) of the 1999 constitution, which clearly states that a person can only contest an election if he is a member of a political party and is sponsored by that political party.

It further held that evidence showed that there was no other candidate for Akwa Ibom North-West for the PDP and as such it was clear that nobody was deceived as to the candidature of Akpabio.

“From the totality of the evidence placed before the court, it is evidently clear that the error in one of the nomination papers which contained Akwa Ibom North-East for Akpabio instead of Akwa Ibom North-West has been clearly and satisfactorily explained to the court without any ambiguity.