Election Petition Tribunal: Nnamani knows fate tomorrow

The National and State Assembly tribunal sitting in Enugu will tomorrow (Tuesday) deliver judgment in the petition brought by former governor of the state, Chimaroke Nnamani of the Peoples for Democratic Change (PDC) against the election of the Senator Gilbert Nnaji of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for Enugu East Senatorial District election.
 
At the conclusion of the election on March 28, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Nnaji winner, saying he secured more votes in the six local government councils that make up the senatorial zone.

Dissatisfied Nnamani, whose supporters had taken to the streets for three days in protest over the INEC’s declaration, had petitioned the tribunal asking it to declare him (Nnamani) winner of the poll having secured greater number of valid votes.

The former governor further alleged massive rigging of the election in areas allegedly won by his opponent, stressing that INEC was in error
to have pronounced the verdict.

Meanwhile, the Tribunal on Saturday, dismissed the petition brought by another PDC House of Representatives candidate for Nkanu East and Nkanu West Federal Constituency, Mr. Nnoli Nnaji, seeking to upturn the election of his PDP counterpart, Chukwuemeka Ujam.

Ujam, a former Commissioner for Lands in the immediate past administration, was returned elected in the House of Representatives election conducted on March 28, 2015.

Not satisfied with the outcome of the election, Nnaji of the PDC filed a petition at the tribunal urging it to invalidate Ujam’s victory.

Delivering judgment in the matter, Justice Abba Bello Mohammed of the FCT High Court, dismissed the petition with N50,000 awarded to each of the four respondents.

In the judgment that lasted for about two and half hours, Justice Mohammed said that several prayers were contained in the petition filed by Nnaji, which were struck out during trial leaving only two for determination.  These, he said, centred on whether Ujam was qualified
to contest the election on the ground that he did not win in the PDP primaries which produced Princess Peace Nnaji as the party’s flag-bearer for Nkanu East and Nkanu West Federal Constituency.

The tribunal, however, agreed with the exhibits submitted by the petitioner, which showed that Princess Nnaji scored 83 votes against 20 scored by the respondent (Ujam) but ruled that he (Nnaji) did not have the right to determine for a political party other than his who should fly its flag and how it should conduct its primaries.

“You cannot build something on nothing and the law is not a camera of imagination,” Mohammed said.

He held that the tribunal could therefore not nullify the election as prayed, as that would amount to interfering in political party affairs; more so, when the issue canvassed was a pre-election matter.

On the second prayer by the petitioner that Ujam’s victory should be invalidated because of his alleged arrest by the military for being in
possession of 4,000 Permanent Voter Cards on the day of the election,
the tribunal ruled that the petitioner failed to produce before the tribunal the impact or the effect of the confiscated PVCs on the
election proper.

He said that the petitioner also failed to produce owners of the said PVCs to ascertain whether they actually belong to voters in the constituency in question.

He, therefore, dismissed the petition and upheld the election and return by INEC of Ujam as member representing Nkanu West and Nkanu East Federal Constituency.

Reacting to the tribunal’s verdict, Counsel to the petitioner, Ike Aroh, said they would carefully study it with a view to knowing the
next line of action.

Ujam, however, gave thanks to God, saying he had been vindicated by the verdict of the tribunal.

He called on his opponent to join hands with him in developing the constituency, assuring that he was always ready to embrace every form of advice.