Anthony Iwuoma
The Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Owerri, Imo State capital, has thrown out a petition by the Young Progressives Party (YPP) against the Senator representing Imo North Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Sir Frank Ibezim.
The YPP had petitioned the tribunal in its bid to upturn Ibezim’s victory, which has since been ratified by a Supreme Court ruling.
However, the tribunal on Wednesday delivered a final judgment and upheld the preliminary objection of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its candidate, Distinguished Sen. Frank Chukwuma Ibezim.
In its ruling, the tribunal held that the YPP petition was incompetent and thereby struck it out because some of the reliefs were largely pre-election matters, bordering on the issue of nomination and sponsorship of a candidate, which is the internal affair of a political party.
Moreover, the tribunal held that the petitioner lacked the locus standi to question the nomination and sponsorship of a candidate of another political party. Therefore, it ruled that the reliefs sought by the Petitioner is invalid and hence cannot be sustained.
Nevertheless, the tribunal went further to consider the petition on merit, and held that the petitioner abandoned all the documents pleaded for failing to tender the same in evidence during the trial and hereby expunged.
It further noted that the petitioner’s only witness contradicted his own testimony during cross examination when he admitted that the judgment of the Federal High Court the petitioner was relying on had been set aside by the Supreme Court.
The Tribunal also held that the petitioner failed to state the name of the candidate declared and returned elected as a winner in the said bye election in their petition thus rendering the petition incompetent for failing to comply with the provisions of Electoral Act.
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Furthermore the tribunal described the judgment of Justice Taiwo Taiwo as judicial rascality that cannot stand in the face of two judgments of the Supreme Court, which is binding on the tribunal.
It held that the petitioners failed to plead and prove the relevant facts as laid down in the Electoral Act, 2010 as amended, adding that the petitioners had not discharged the evidential burden of proof.
Consequently, the tribunal dismissed the petition and awarded the cost of N500,000 in favour of each of the respondents against the petitioners.
