The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Akwa Ibom state has accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of failure to prosecute its matter with diligence at the election petition tribunal in the state.
It said the party was responsible for its abysmal failure at the tribunal in which it has so far lost all cases.
This accusation came on the heels of the recent allegations by the state chairman of the APC), Ini Okopido who had accused Jennifer Ijohor, chairman , National and State House of Assembly petition tribunal of bias, and sought her removal from the tribunal on the grounds that her husband, Anthony Ijofor (SAN) is a PDP stalwart.
Okopido had also alleged that Ijofor is currently serving the PDP as the secretary to the Benue State government.
Ini Ememobong , PDP, publicity secretary in Akwa Ibom State said in Uyo , the state capital that APC should rather hold itself responsible for its woes at the tribunal, maintaining that APC’s negligence in prosecution was responsible for their failure at the election tribunal.
The APC had also claimed that Jennifer Ijohor’s position as Chairman of the tribunal is a clear conflict of interest in her work, adding that she would not be able to discharge her duties as objectively as expected which has led to the dismissal of some cases.
Dismissing APC”s claims, the State Publicity Secretary noted that the cases were dismissed for lack of diligence in prosecution, adding that so far, the APC has lost 8 cases at the election petition tribunal sitting in Uyo.
Ememobong stated that the APC lost its State House of Assembly Election Petition in six local government areas of Ikono, Nsit Ubium, Nsit Ibom, Mkpat Enin, Ibesikpo Asutan, and Ini, and two Federal Constituencies of Ikono/Ini and Uyo.
He said the APC wrongly filed some of the cases after the period of filling, the party could not amend them, and therefore failed to bring the right cases to tribunal
He noted that it was wrong for the APC to blame Jennifer Ijohor for the decisions taken by the three person panel as she was not responsible for the omissions made by APC counsel which did not comply with the provisions of the law governing election petition.
He argued that the rulings of the three man tribunal panel are either by unanimity or majority, adding that the chairman’s vote is not a veto, as it carries the same weight as that of the members.
“The state chairman of APC ought to be aware that election petitions are of a special type and therefore not all the rules of civil procedure apply therein. There are different laws enacted for the adjudication of these matters before the tribunal, which must be followed stricto sensu and failure to do so, usually attracts consequences.
“In the cases mentioned by Okopido, the petitioners(APC and their failed candidates) failed or neglected to apply for Pre-trial forms which is in contravention of the provisions of the extant Electoral Act and the consequence is trite- the petition must be dismissed, same being incompetent.
“On the issue of amendments sought for and denied by the three member tribunal (not the Chairman of the Tribunal), the law is specific that after the period allowed for filing of a petition, no amendment shall be made except to correct typographical errors.
“The amendments sought by the APC has the capacity to change the tone and character of their petition- this, the law clearly forbids,” he, said, “A careful observation of the issues raised, will reveal that the APC is blaming the judge(who incidentally is not sitting alone )for their woes.
“The rational question will now be, how is the judge responsible for the omission by APC counsel to comply with the provisions of the law governing election petition? Should they ideally blame the judge, the Law or their lawyers?”.
He added, “The world recalls their previous attempts at preventing the panels from sitting in Akwa Ibom and later seeking to relocate them.
According to him, having failed in those moves, they have changed gears and are asking for substitution of the chairman of a panel, so as to intimidate the other remaining judges, that if they don’t do their(APC) bidding, they will push for their change.
” The said judge is their test case and they are ready to commit resources and energy to this futile attempt,” he said.
