Rivers APC’s Election
Petition Tribunal Triumph: ‘It is God’s doing’ - Finebone
It is now common knowledge that the APC had a string of
favourable rulings at all the election petition tribunals today sitting at
Abuja. From the matter of locational jurisdiction of the panels to the now
vexed issue of 21 days notice to INEC for party primaries, the APC candidates
all got positive rulings.
It is of immense significance to point out, at this
juncture, that about a fortnight ago, one of the tribunals ruled that the
petitions of Dr. Dawari George and Hon. Lucky Odili did not meet the time requirement
as specified in the Electoral Act 2010 as amended, an otherwise pre-election
matter.
Following this ruling, the Rivers State Chapter of the
PDP went on air to announce that same rulings awaited all petitions by APC
candidates before the various tribunals.
Today, the APC is glad to state that the particular
tribunal that handed that ruling on the matters of Dr. Dawari George and Hon.
Lucky Odili, having realised the grave error it committed with those rulings,
now ruled that the issue at stake was actually a pre-election matter and
therefore dismissed the objection of Betty Apiafi in the matter of Ahoada
East/Abual Odua Federal Constituency involving Hon(Mrs) Betty Apiafi and APC
Candidate, Hon.Robinson Nnamdi Ewor.
The Tribunal maintained that matters regarding errors
during primaries are pre-election matters, and therefore the Tribunal was not
constituted to look into such matters, but disputes arising from the conduct of
the election.
The Tribunal must have also taken advantage of
a recent Kwara State appeal court ruling that all such matters are pre-election
issues that are not within the scope of work before election tribunals.
Therefore, a number of things are now clear from the
present situation.
The matter of 21 days notice to INEC for
Primaries has been confirmed a pre-election matter which is beyond
the adjudication of the election petition tribunals. It also means that none of
the petitions of the APC candidates in Rivers State is in danger of
disqualification on the basis of such a pre-election requirement at the
tribunals. Most importantly, it confirms that the ruling on the matter reserved
for Wednesday with regard to the motion by Gov. Nyesom Wike and the PDP against
Dr. Dakuku Peterside and the APC is likely to suffer a dismissal as no proper
ruling on same matter under same circumstances can go in a different direction.
Yet again, it serves notice that Hon. Dawari George and Hon Lucky Odili will
have the rulings on their matter reversed as the appeals have already been filed.
The APC would like to appeal to our leaders and members
to continue to remain steadfast in our determination to reclaim our individual
and collective mandates taken away by the Philistines of our time who are
already plundering our commonwealth while threatening us with violence
Signed
Chris Finebone
Rivers State APC Publicity Secretary
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