PDP Candidate Drags Rep Member To Tribunal In C’River
Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the just concluded bye-election for the Ogoja/Yala Federal Constituency seat, Cross River State, in the House of Representatives, Mr Michael Usibe has petitioned the winner of the election, Chief Jude Ngaji of the APC to the elections petition tribunal.
In the petition filed by his counsel, Ntufam Mba Ukweni, SAN, the candidate joined INEC as well as the INEC commissioner in the state, Mr Cyril Omorege as respondents.
In the petition which has Ngaji as first respondent, the petitioner said “the 1st Respondent was the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC the 2ndRespondent herein in the said bye-election, who was returned by the 3rd, 4th and 5th Respondents as the person duly elected to represent the people of Ogoja/Yala Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives.
“ It is that declaration and return of the 1st Respondent who did not win the election or score majority of valid or lawful votes cast at the election that is being challenged by your petitioner in this petition.
“The 3rd Respondent(INEC) is the body constitutionally and statutorily charged with the responsibility of conducting General elections in the country including Bye-elections to fill up vacant positions when the need arises; and did in fact, conduct the Bye-election into the Ogoja/Yala Federal Constituency of Cross River State on Saturday, the 26th day of February, 2022. The 3rdRespondent is joined in this petition to defend itself and its Officers. Ad hoc staff and such other persons who were engaged by the Commission in the conduct of the Bye-election and whose conducts are complained of in this petition.
“The 4th Respondent is the Resident Electoral Commissioner for Cross River State, while the 5th Respondent was the Returning Officer for the Ogoja/Yala Federal Constituency in the Bye-election. They are the representatives of the 3rdRespondent, the Electoral Officers and other staff of the Commission who colluded with the 1st, 2nd, 6th – 15th Respondents to manipulate figures under threats and the scores of the Parties to declare the 1st Respondent as the winner of the Bye-election and return him as such, inspite of the fact that your Petitioner defeated him in the Bye-election and should have been returned as the winner of the Bye-election.”
Usibe hinged his petition on two ground: That the election in certain polling units and wards was marred by corrupt practices and non-compliances with the provisions of the Electoral Act and that the 1st Respondent was not duly elected by the majority of the lawful votes cast at the election.
He added:
“There are two (2) Local Government Areas that constitute the Ogoja/Yala Federal Constituency of Cross River State, namely; Ogoja Local Government Area and Yala Local Government Area. Ogoja Local Government Area has ten (10) Wards/Registration Areas and one hundred and nineteen (119) Polling Units, while Yala Local Government Area has eleven (11) Wards/Registration Areas and one hundred and ninety-six (196) Polling Units.
“The election was duly conducted in all the ten (10) Wards and One Hundred and Eighteen (118) out of the one hundred and nineteen (119) Polling Units of Ogoja Local Government Area and results duly sorted at the Polling Units entered into the relevant Unit result sheets, Form EC 8 A (11); collated at the Wards in Forms EC 8 B (11) and Local Government Collation Centres in EC 8 C (11), except for one polling unit, that is Unit 014 of Mbube West 1 also called Mbube West Ward 1. It is the polling Unit at playground Mpam Beknel.
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“The Petitioner avers that the 3rd – 5thRespondents adopted double standard that was lopsidedly in favour of the 1st and 2ndRespondents in the conduct of the election. They aided the 1st and 2nd Respondents in rigging the election by providing a leeway for the highjack of electoral materials and arranged abduction of certain Electoral Officers with sensitive election materials to locations other than places designated for the conduct of the election. They also cancelled results in areas where the Petitioner won but where they were incidence of over voting but refused to do the same in areas where the 1st and 2nd Respondents purportedly won but with similar noticeable incidence of over voting even greater dimension.
“The violence perpetrated by the 1st, 2nd, 6th – 15th Respondent during the conduct of the election was prevalent in five (5) Wards of Yala Local Government Area, namely; Okuku, Okpoma, Echumofana, Yache and Wanikade respectively. Before the armed bandits could extend their orchestrated mayhem and brutality to Ogoja Local Government Area, the election had been concluded at the various Polling Units. The results were merely being collated at the Wards and Local Government Area of Ogoja Local Government Area. It therefore became impossible for the perpetrators of the violence to hijack the electoral materials abducts the INEC Adhoc Staff who conducted the election in the Polling Units of Ogoja Local Government Area as they did in the afore-stated five (5) Wards of Yala Local Government Area.
“The petitioner avers that election materials were duly distributed to all the eleven (11) Wards and one hundred and ninety-six (196) polling units of Yala Local Government Area and the election commenced duly. Problems started when the 1st, 2nd, 6th – 13th Respondents discovered that the Petitioner was leading, even in the areas they considered to be their strongholds. To cover-up the shame that the outcome of the election would have robbed on their faces for a Government to lose an election so woefully, they decided to resort to violence by using Government mercenaries and bandits, negatively, dastardly and violently against perceived Political opponents, particularly PDP members and the electorates.
“The Petitioner and the 1st Respondent are indigenes of Yala Local Government Area. However, the massive support enjoyed by the Petitioner is as a result of his performance in the Local Government Area when he was Chairman of Yala Local Government Council and the abysmal performance of the APC Government in Cross River State which has caused the electorates to revolt against the Cross River State Government through the ballot papers.
“The 1st, 2nd 6th -16th Respondents decided to exhibit the arrogance of power, brigandage and gangsterism by plotting a coup d’etat against the electorates of Ogoja/Yala Federal Constituency of Cross River State which they executed on Saturday, the 26th day of February, 2022 by deploying armed bandits, most of whom were masked with red hoods, covering the entirety of their head down to the neck region, thereby shielding them from being recognized or identified by the electorates.”
For what he considered infractions during the election, Usibe sought the following reliefs:
“an order removing or cancelling the votes of all the parties in all the Polling Units where they were clear incidents of over voting and subtracting same from all overall voter of the parties.
“an order of this Honourable Tribunal directing the re-computation of the results of the Bye-election based valid votes scored by the candidates from Ogoja Local Government Area and the remaining six (6) Wards Yala Local Government Area, namely; Wanihem, Wanakom, Yahe, Ntrigom/Mfuma, Ijiraga and Gabu respectively where the Bye-election was duly conducted and where there were no incidents of over voting.
“an order setting aside the declaration and return of the 1st Respondent by the 3rd, 4th and 5th Respondents as the person duly elected in the Bye-election conducted by the 3rd Respondent, on Saturday, the 26th day of February, 2022 into Ogoja/Yala Federal Constituency of Cross River State as the Member to Represent Ogoja/Yala Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives.
“an order of this honourable tribunal withdrawing the Certificate of Returns issued to the 1st Respondent by the 3rd Respondent, the Independent National Electoral Commission as the person duly elected to represent Ogoja/Yala Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives.
“an order directing the 3rd, 4th and 5th Respondents to forthwith issue to the Petitioner, a Certificate of Return as the person duly elected and returned in the Bye-election conducted on Saturday, the 26th day of February, 2022 into the Membership of the House of Representatives to represent Ogoja/Yala Federal Constituency of Cross River State.
