The State and National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal in Enugu on Monday dismissed two petitions by the All Progressives Congress (APC) for filing the petition out of time.
The tribunal also dismissed another petition by the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) against the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the same reason.
The APC candidate, Dr Ben Nwoye, was challenging the declaration of the PDP candidate, Mr Gilbert Nnaji, as the winner of the Enugu East senatorial seat by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Nwoye had requested the tribunal to nullify the March 28 Enugu East senatorial election as it was marred by irregularities and electoral offences.
Mr Gilbert Nnaji
The counsel to the respondent, Mr Tochukwu Odoh, had told the tribunal that the petitioner‘s application for pre-hearing was filed out of time and cannot be extended.
Odo argued that the petitioner’s notice was filed out of time and requested the tribunal to dismiss the petition since it had no jurisdiction to entertain such.
Meanwhile, the petitioner’s counsel, Mr A.O. Giwa, had argued that the tribunal should discountenance the position of the respondent as the law allowed for pleading when accompanied with affidavit.
Ruling, the Chairman of the tribunal, Justice Michael Edem, held that the joint replies by the petitioner were filed out of time and as such was incompetent.
Edem said that the petitioner’s argument did not hold water and failed to comply with the Electoral Act, 2010 as amended.
He dismissed the petition and awarded the cost of N20,000 in favour of the respondent.
In another ruling, the tribunal struck out a petition by Mr William Ezeugwu of APGA against the candidate of the PDP, Mr Chukwuka Utazi.
Ezeugwu was challenging the emergence of Utazi as the winner of the Enugu North senatorial seat in the March 28 senatorial election by INEC.
In his petition, he alleged that there were irregularities …Read More
Source:: PM Newspaper
