Governorship Election Tribunal on Wednesday, following the
nullification of election in 18 local government areas of the state
without unseating the governor.
The tribunal had Wednesday ruled on the petition by the All
Progressives Congress, and its candidate, Umana Umana, challenging
the election of Mr. Emmanuel of the Peoples Democratic Party.
The judgement was however unclear as it was not categorical on
whether Governor Udom Emmanuel should leave office.
In the ruling, the tribunal held that election was not properly
conducted in 18 of 31 local government areas of the state.
The three-member tribunal, led by Justice Sadiq Umar, ordered the
Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to conduct re-run
election in the affected 18 local government areas.
Some of the affected local government areas include Eket, Uyo, Onna,
Nsit-Ibom, Nsit-Ubium, Ibiono, Ibesikpo Asutan, Nsit-Atai, Etinam and
Oron, among others.
While it called for rerun in the affected local government areas, the
tribunal failed to make pronouncement on the status of the state
governor.
It also failed to give specific time frame for the conduct of rerun
election in the affected local governments.
The decision of the tribunal threw many Nigerians into confusion
including PREMIUM TIMES, which initially reported in error that Mr.
Emmanuel’s election had been upheld.
However, when this newspaper sought the opinion of Nigerians, there
was mixed reaction on the matter.
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, Sebastian Hon, said he is surprised
at the tribunal’s ruling.
He argued that even if it had nullified election in half of the local
government areas in the state, the tribunal ought to have removed the
governor and called for a rerun.
He said, “I think an error of judgment has been committed, by
nullifying in 18 local government areas, it means the governor was not
validly elected and should not continue in office.
“However, under the Electoral Act, even if a governor is removed, he
cannot vacate the seat until the time appeal is exhausted.
“But it was the duty of the tribunal to have made that pronouncement
as a consequential order. It is an order that flows naturally from the
judgment.”
He, however, advised INEC to conduct rerun election in the affected
local governments within one month or at the expiration of the
appeal window so the people of Akwa Ibom state would know who
their real governor is.
A member of the APC legal team in the case, Ubong Offiong, said the
ruling left some gaps which were difficult to understand.
By cancelling election and ordering rerun in 18 out of the 31 local
government areas in the state, he noted that the tribunal has left some
questions unanswered, Mr. Offiong said.
“For instance, we know that the governor of Akwa Ibom State cannot
be deemed to have been elected on the basis of 13 local government
areas given the fact that the state has 31 local government areas,” he
said.
“The governor could only be validly elected if he had scored at least
25 per cent of the votes in 24 local government areas of the state.
“By upholding election in 13 local government areas effectively means
that the present governor was not validly elected. But because the
tribunal did not expressly say so at the end of the day, gives room to
confusion.”
Again, Mr. Offiong faulted the tribunal for calling for rerun in the 18
affected local government areas without indicating a definite time
frame within which INEC should conduct the election.
He insisted a lacuna could be created where all the parties fail to
appeal the judgment of the tribunal.
He continued, “I believe the tribunal could have said since election
has been cancelled in the 18 local government areas and therefore the
present governor was not validly elected, they should be a rerun
within three months or a specified time frame.
“In that case, if any of the parties goes on appeal, the court would
either uphold the ruling or change it.”
Even the PDP believes the judgment is vague.
The PDP Chairman in Akwa Ibom state, Paul Ekpo, said the judgment
was confusing.
Mr. Ekpo said the only good thing about the judgment was that the
governor, Mr. Emmanuel, remained in office.
“The judgment is very confusing except that my governor, who had
won the election overwhelmingly still remains the governor,” Mr.
Ekpo said.
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