It has been reported that the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Enugu on Monday struck out the petition
challenging the victory of Gov. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi as the winner of the March 9 governorship election in the state.
The petition was reportedly filed by Action Peoples Party (APP) The tribunal, chaired by Justice I. M. Sambo, struck out the
petition after entertaining a motion on notice for the withdrawal of the petition. Counsel to the petitioner/applicant, Mr Obed
Agu, told the tribunal that the petitioner had resolved to discontinue with the process as filed. He prayed the tribunal to strike
out the petition, pursuant to Rule 29, Rules of Procedure of Election Petitions.
“The petitioner filed a notice of withdrawal of the petition before the tribunal. We, therefore, seek the order of the tribunal
granting leave to the petitioner/applicant to withdraw the petition in its entirety, and consequential order striking out the
petition,” Agu said.
In her submission, Mrs A.J. Offiah (SAN), counsel to the governor and first respondent, said that they had entered appearance
after being served with the petition. “We concede that we were served with an application for the withdrawal and dismissal of the
petition,” she said.
Offiah said that they had filed and served the petitioner/applicant, an affidavit against illegal terms of withdrawal, adding that
they were not opposed to the application. The tribunal consequently dismissed and struck out the petition and awarded no cost
to the respondents.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that other counsels present during the sitting are counsels to Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) and Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chief A. I. Ani and Mr Humphrey Okoli respectively.
Recall that it has been reported that a Federal High court sitting in Abuja has struck out the suit filed by Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) against APC. The suit was filed by a senatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Bauchi state,
Garba Dahiru. Dahiru had asked the court to declare him the winner of the election in Bauchi South Senatorial District and issue
him the certificate of return as the All Progressives Congress (APC) which polled the most votes in the election did not have a
candidate.
The APC had failed to provide a candidate as there was confusion in the party over who is the authentic candidate for the Bauchi
South senatorial poll is. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) decided to declare the APC the winner of the
election. Results of the February 23 election as announced by INEC showed that the APC garnered 250,725 votes, while Dahiru
scored 175,527 votes. Returning Officer, Ahmed Sarkin-Fagam, said he could not declare a winner for the election because APC
had no candidate recognised by the law. as it had failed to substitute its candidate, Lawal Gumau, as directed earlier by a federal
high court.
The judge at the federal high court in Abuja, Taiwo Taiwo, in his ruling on Wednesday, held that it is a post-election matter and
that the court lacked jurisdiction to entertain it. He added that the appropriate court for the matter is the election petition
tribunal. Taiwo said the court could not decide on the candidacy of the APC since it is already a subject before the appellate court.
He added that doing so would merely amount to an academic exercise. Addressing journalists shortly after the judgment, the
INEC lawyer, Alhassan Umar, thanked the court for a well-considered judgement, while Prisca Elesike, who is counsel to Mr
Dahiru, said: “an appeal is a better option.”
Source: Independent Newspapers/Ripples Nigeria
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