17th July, 2012
The Cross River State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Calabar, southsouth Nigeria, this morning dismissed the petition filed by all the opposition parties against the election of Senator Liyel Imoke as the governor of the state during the 25 February, 2012 election.
The tribunal declared that the petition lacked merit and accordingly dismissed it, saying that Governor Imoke was validly elected.
In the petition, the opposition parties said Imoke was not validly elected as the candidate of the PDP through the party’s primary after the Supreme Court judgement of 26 January, 2012 which nullified the election of five governors over tenure elongation.
The opposition parties also alleged that voting was falsified in favour of Imoke. They added that there was low turnout of voters.
But, delivering judgement the tribunal chairman, Justice Tairu Bello ruled that the petitioners did not bring before it witnesses from the field to corroborate their allegations but relied on second hand information collated at collation centres contrary to provisions of the Electoral Act which stipulates that for an election to be nullified, witnesses must be from the field.
On the issue of Imoke’s nomination as PDP candidate, the tribunal held that the letter from INEC to the parties duly instructed them to submit the list of their candidates for the election without a mention of primaries.
On the issue of election not holding at Bakassi and Ebijakara, the tribunal declared that Bakassi had been ceded to Cameroun while for Ebijakara, the conflict around the area had dispersed them to neighbouring communities around them. Since 2007 the people have been voting in the new areas of residence in the neighbouring communities.
Prof. Tony Ukam, counsel to the opposition parties said his clients will appeal the judgement.
—Emma Una/Calabar