The election petition tribunal in Umuahia, Abia State, dismissed the petition brought before it by the Labour Party candidate, Mrs Victoria Onwubiko, challenging the election of Hon Erondu Uchenna Erondu Jnr, member representing Obingwa West State constituency.
The tribunal held that the petitioner, Mrs. Victoria Dibunma Onwubiko, failed to prove that the election that produced the Obingwa West Constituency representative was marred with significant ‘Non Compliance’ with Electoral Acts during the March 18, 2023 elections, as she alleged in a unanimous decision delivered on Thursday by Hon. Justice Abubakar Kutigi-led three-man panel.
The panel also ruled that the petitioner, Mrs. Onwubiko, who challenged the election results in 82 Polling Units (PUs), summoned just eight witnesses and provided evidence in only three of the 82 PUs.
The tribunal chairman went on to say that the evidence was terrible, with no reliable emperical data, and that none of the petitioner’s witnesses could defend the documents presented to the panel.
The tribunal also revealed in its ruling that some of the Witnesses (PW5, PW6, PW7, and PW8) who had previously claimed in their disposition that there was over-voting, vote inflation, mutilation, and alterations, among other things, had changed their minds during cross-examination and affirmed that the election was credible.
The tribunal also criticized the petitioner’s alternate claim of disenfranchisement, pointing out that the petitioner again failed to provide disenfranchised voters to testify in court.
On the basis of the margin of lead concept, the tribunal determined that no witness for the petitioner testified that any voter was disenfranchised.
“The petitioner, through the bar, dumped the documents on the court and did nothing to prove their claims.
“Court has no business determining issues based on speculations but based on evidence tendered and demonstrated in the open court”, the judge ruler.
The tribunal held that the LP candidate failed to establish the burden of proof of ‘substantial non-compliance’ with the Electoral Acts and therefore, dismissed the petition for lacking in merit.
Reacting to the ruling, the counsel to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Emeka Eze, who thanked the tribunal for ensuring that justice prevailed on the matter, said it was victory for the rule of law.
Meanwhile, the Chairman, Abia State House of Assembly Committee on Public Service and the member representing Obingwa-West State constituency in ABHA, Hon. Erondu Uchenna Erondu Jnr, hailed the tribunal for the judgment, noting that it was a victory for democracy and the people of Obingwa-West State constituency, whose mandate he regards as sacred.
He thanked the tribunal for the ruling, saying it was fair, firm and resolute in judgement, as well as upholding the provisions of the law.
Erondu further thanked his constituents for keeping faith with him while the case lasted in the court