EZECHI DEFEATS OKWUOLISE, LABOUR PARTY AT ELECTION PETITIONS TRIBUNAL

.The National and State House of Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Asaba has dismissed a petition brought before it by the Labour Party House of Representatives candidate for the February 25 Ndokwa/Ukwuani Federal Constituency House of Representatives election, Gift Okwuolise and the Labour Party, seeking to nullify the election of Rt. Hon Nnamdi Ezechi of the Peoples Democratic Party.

The Petitioners had claimed that there were no elections in the three local government areas of Ndokwa East, Ndokwa West and Ukwuani, alleging that the Respondents; INEC, Nnamdi Ezechi and PDP manipulated the election result.

They called three witnesses, while the Respondents called one witness.

In its judgement delivered by Justice Nwankwo, the three-man panel of the Tribunal dismissed the petition on grounds that the Petitioners failed to prove that elections did not take place in Ndokwa East, Ndokwa West and Ukwuani LGAs as claimed.

The Tribunal also noted that the Petitioners merely wasted its time by dumping documents that could not fly and calling witnesses who gave conflicting evidence in the case.

It awarded a N300,000 cost against the Petitioners, in favour of the Respondents; INEC, Nnamdi Ezechi and PDP.

Reacting to the judgement, a legal representative of the Respondents, Barr Chike Amudo, expressed satisfaction with the proceedings and ruling, saying that the Petitioners took their joke too far by claiming that the election, roundly won by Rt. Hon Nnamdi Ezechi with a wide margin, did not take place in the entire Ndokwa/Ukwuani Federal Constituency.

He said with the Petitioners’ bad case, appealing the Tribunal’s judgement would be a waste of time and resources.

When contacted in far away Abuja, Rt. Hon Nnamdi Ezechi dedicated the legal victory to God and the entire people of Ndokwa/Ukwuani Federal Constituency. 

He called on Gift Okwuolise, and his other opponents; Ken Okolugbu of Accord Party and Johnson Opone of the All Progressives Congress, APC, to join hands with him and Governor Sheriff Oborevwori, Deputy Governor, Sir Monday Onyeme and the three Assembly members, as well as the Commissioners designate, MD DESOPADEC, Chief festus Ochonogor, DESOPADEC Commissioners and other leaders and stakeholders of Ndokwa nation to move the Federal Constituency forward.