The All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate in the controversial Anambra State governorship election, Dr. Chris Ngige  has dragged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and four others to the Anambra State Governorship and Legislative Houses Elections Petition Tribunal at Awka.

Also joined as respondents in the petition instituted by Ngige and APC are the INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner for Anambra State, Prof.  Chukwuemeka Onukaogu; the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA); Chief Willie Obiano, the APGA candidate in the election and the Advanced Congress of Democrats (ACD).

Meanwhile, the tribunal has ordered that Obiano and APGA be served by substituted means by pasting the petition on the tribunal’s notice board.

The order was made on December 23 , 2013 while the respondents are expected to respond within 14 days.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate, Mr. Tony Nwoye has also filed a petition at the tribunal. Mr. Nwoye was one of those disenfranchised during the election, as he and several members of his family did not find their names on the voters’ register used for the election, though they had their voters’ cards.

In the petition filed by their counsel, Messrs Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN), George Uwechue (SAN) and Emeka Ngige (SAN) among others, the petitioners are asking the tribunal to nullify the controversial election, claiming that it was vitiated by substantial non-compliance with mandatory statutory requirements and irregularities and that “none of the candidates in the said election was entitled to be returned.”

The petitioners said they were aggrieved with the declaration of Obiano as the winner of the election and argued that while the APGA candidate did not satisfy the mandatory requirements of the 1999 Constitution and the Electoral Act, 2010 as amended, the election was conducted in a manner which was manifestly and substantially not in compliance with the provisions of the Constitution and the Electoral Act.

The petitioners therefore, prayed the tribunal to declare that Obiano was not duly elected or returned and that his election was void. They are also asking the tribunal to determine that the use of an invalid voters’ register rendered the elections of  November 16,17 and 30, 2013 invalid by reason of non-compliance with provisions of Electoral Act 2010 as amended.

Ngige and APC are also seeking a declaration that the election was invalid by reason of corrupt practices and/or non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2010 as amended and that Obiano was not qualified to contest the questioned election as the APGA candidate.

They are also praying the tribunal to declare that Obiano was not duly elected by majority of lawful votes cast at the election.The petitioners also argued that the APGA candidate did not receive 25per cent of votes cast in two-thirds of the 21 local councils of Anambra State as required by the 1999 Constitution as amended.

The petitioners therefore, sought a declaration by the tribunal that “the election and return of the 3rd respondent be nullified and a fresh election be ordered amongst the parties and candidates who contested the said election save 3rd and 4th respondents.”

They also argued that Obiano was not elected by the majority of lawful votes cast at the election and that the APGA candidate was not qualified to contest the election.

The petitioners, while outlining the particulars to the petition, said that the voters’ register used for the election “was fundamentally flawed” in that overwhelming number of registered voters were excluded from the voters’ register and were therefore, disenfranchised; that INEC had repeatedly given conflicting figures as the number of registered voters in Anambra State and that the voters’ register was grossly deficient as many registered voters in all parts of the state could not find their names on the register while photographs of minors and blurred images filled the register.

They argued that, “as a result of the flawed nature of the voters’ register including the problem of multiple registration and attendant mass disenfranchisement of voters in the election, only 442,242 voters or 24.9 per cent were able to exercise their franchise.”

Ngige and APC argued that the election was “fundamentally and irredeemably flawed” as the voters’ register “was deficient, defective, inflated, undermined, inaccurate and therefore unreliable.  The said register did not conform to the provisions of Electoral Act 2010 (as amended), thereby rendering the entire results arising from the said election void.”

They stated that while INEC Chairman, Prof Attahiru Jega had issued an electronic copy of the voters’ register to participating political parties three days to the election, claiming that it was to replace the earlier register which had the ages of all registrants mistakenly reduced by two years, the petitioners discovered that the claim was false. They said that not only were the ages of some registrants reduced by more than two years, the voters’ register was riddled with photographs of minors and blurred images.

According to the petitioners, other defects that affected the controversial election were missing pages from the voters’ register; void votes arising from non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2010 as amended and INEC Manual for the Conduct of the 2013 Anambra State Governorship Election; result sheets arising from improper accreditation of voters; lack of transparency in the State Collation of results; late arrival of materials and attendant late commencement of accreditation/voting in various places; corrupt practices, and highly inflated number of voters.

The petitioners further argue that aside from manifest bias by Onukaogu against the petitioners and deliberate subversion of the order of the Tribunal by INEC, the non-swearing to the Oath of Neutrality by INEC officials and adhoc staff involved in the conduct of the election as required by law impugned the credibility of the election.

According to the petitioners, the recruitment of students with ties to APGA as Presiding Officers and Assistant Presiding Officers (poll clerks) was yet another vice that afflicted the controversial election, moreso as Jega admitted at a world press conference held at Abuja on 22nd November, 2013 that the Commission, “in clear breach of its earlier decision, recruited adhoc staff from Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka where the said Dr. Nkem Okeke was last employed before the election, with a tepid explanation that the Commission did so when it ran out of manpower.” Okeke is Obiano’s running mate in the election.

Noting that INEC’s Electoral Officer for Idemili North LGA, one Chukwujekwu Okeke, deliberately truncated the election in the entire local council considered a stronghold of Ngige, the petitioners stated that the INEC official was allegedly compromised by agents of Obiano and APGA “who induced him with hefty sums of money to subvert the electoral process in the stronghold of the petitioners.”

On Obiano’s qualification to contest the election, the petitioners argued that the APGA candidate was not qualified to run for the election, having been engaged in multiple registrations. They said that under the provisions of Section 182(1) of the 1999 Constitution as amended, a candidate for the office of Governor of a State should not be qualified to contest for that office if he had presented a forged certificate to INEC.

The petitioners observed that the voter’s card with VIN: 90F5B15E7D378200332 issued by INEC to the APGA candidate and attached to his INEC Form CF 001 (Affidavit in Support of Personal Particulars of persons seeking election to the office of Governor of Anambra State) “was improperly, irregularly and illicitly obtained” by Obiano, having earlier obtained another voter’s card with VIN 90F5B12B01296204172 issued by INEC in January 2011 at its Lagos office.

Noting that the voter’s card attached to Obiano’s INEC Form CF 001 was the third voter’s card illegally obtained by the APGA candidate, the petitioners observed that Obiano had on 23rd August, 2013 obtained his second voter’s card with VIN: 90F5B12B88377091121, having presented himself for registration at Polling Unit 004, Otuocha Ward 1, Anambra East LGA, Anambra State. They assert that it was on the basis of the third voter’s card that Obiano was cleared to contest the governorship election.

It is recalled that at the end of the Governorship Election which held on 16th, 17th, and 30th November, 2013 Obiano was declared winner with 180,178 votes by the Returning Officer, Prof. James Epoke. While the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Mr. Tony Nwoye polled 97,700, Ngige reportedly polled 95,963.

The election was widely criticized by foreign and local election observers and stakeholders, with INEC Chairman Jega admitting that the Commission experienced several challenges during the election. He stated in particular that Chukwujekwu Okeke “messed up” the entire arrangement for Idemili North LGA, suggesting that he might have been compromised by elements outside the commission. Okeke is currently standing trial before an Abuja Chief Magistrate’s Court for “dereliction of duty” in First Information Report No.CR/163/13 COP Vs Chukwujekwu Okeke.

Source: http://sunnewsonline.com/new/cover/anambra-guber-ngige-drags-inec-obiano-tribunal/