Why Tribunal Re-Affirmed Umahi's Election
In the governorship election petition tribunal Holden at Abakaliki, Ebonyi State on Friday, the 16th day of October, 2015
Before Their Lordships:
On the application of
the Petitioner, this Tribunal issued a subpoena Duces Tecum on the Acting
Chairman of INEC, Amina Zakari to produce documents mentioned therein before
the Tribunal. The said subpoena was served on the Legal Department of INEC at
its Headquarters at Abuja. The minutes on the subpoena which was tendered and
admitted in evidence as EXHIBIT 61 revealed that Mr.- Mohammed Sani Yakubu,
Principal Executive Officer in t
he Legal Department and in charge of records of
INEC was directed to represent the Commission in obedience to the said
subpoena. Accordingly, on 3/8/2015, Mohammed Sani Yakubu appeared before the
Tribunal, and after objections taken to his appearance before us by Counsel for
Respondents were overruled, the said Mohammed Sani Yakubu produced a number of
documents which the Petitioner's Counsel applied to tender from the Bar but the
Respondents vehemently objected to their admissibility in evidence. The
documents are;
(i) Letter or circular dated 8th of
April, 2015 titled "PREPARATIONS FOR GOVERNORSHIP AND
HOUSES OFASSEMBLYELECTIONS"
addressed to all Resident Electoral Commissioners andsignedby Secretary to
INEC.
(Ii) Letter dated 8th of
April, 2015 addressed to all Resident Electoral Commissioners titled “CIRCULAR
TO ALL ELECTORAL OFFICERS” and signed by Secretary to INEC.
(lii) Letter dated 10th of
April, 2015"addressed to all Resident Electoral Commissioners titled
"FAILURE OF CARD READERS" and signed by Secretary to INEC.
(Tv) Letter dated 9~ of June. 2015
addressed to all Resident Electoral Commissioners titled "RE: APPROVED
GUIDELINES AND REGULATIONS FOR THE CONDUCT°OF 2015 GENERAL ELECTIONS" and
signed by the Secretary to INEC.
(V) Press statement issued and
signed by the Secretary to INEC on 2nd
of April, 2015.
(Vi) INDEPENDENT
NATIONAL ELECTORAL COMMISSION APPROVED Guidelines and Regulations for the
conduct of 2015 General Elections.
(Vii) SCHEMATIC 1(a): Setup for
Accreditation in stand alone Polling Unit.
(Viii) SCHEMATIC 1 (b): Set up for
voting in stand alone Polling Unit.
(Ix) SCHEMATIC 11(a): Set up for
Accreditation in a Voting Point.
(X) SCHEMATIC 111(b): Set up for
voting in a Voting Point.
For the 1st Respondent, Arthur Obi-Okafor
SAN singled out in the first instance, the document titled, "Guidelines
for conduct of the 2015 General Elections" and contended that it was
neither pleaded nor listed. He referred to the provisions of para 41 (8) of the
First Schedule to the Electoral Act and Section 38 of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) and submitted that any document not listed in a
Read More on the Paper. Ebonyi Voice Newspaper, dated 29th Nov.
Category: NATIONAL NEWS, NEWS
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