BY AUSTIN UGANWA<\/p>\n
Imo State is a patent\u00a0 study in vast and sustained election petitions.
\nAnd this is incontrovertible. The six times general elections have been
\nconducted in the country since the advent of the Fourth Republic
\npolitical dispensation in 1999 Imo has evidently been festooned\u00a0 \u00a0as\u00a0 a
\nstate with a high volume of election petitions.<\/p>\n
This was further underpinned by the President of the Court of Appeal,
\nJustice Zainab Bulkachuwa\u00a0 while inaugurating elections petitions
\ntribunals May 14th 2019 in Abuja. She stated that\u00a0 Imo State had the
\nhighest number of election petitions filed in the aftermath of the 2019
\ngeneral elections. In specific terms, Bulkachuwa submitted that out of a
\ntotal of number of 786 petitions filed by the applicants in the 36
\nstates including the Federal Capital Territory, 76 of them emanated from
\nImo State alone. On average, Imo petitions were three times over and
\nabove any other state.<\/p>\n
She revealed that the heightened number of election petitions that
\nstemmed from Imo informed the Appeal Court\u2019s decision to treat the
\nstate differently. According to her, instead of deploying two to three
\npanels as it was the case of most other states, six panels were raised
\nfor Imo so as to ensure that the cases were adequately handled. Imo
\nsituation is thus considered reprehensible especially when juxtaposed
\nwith other states such as Jigawa State that did not have any election
\npetition<\/p>\n
Imo scored another infamous first at the Appeal Court. It was the only
\nstate with three petitions seeking the setting aside of the tribunal
\njudgment that affirmed the election of the sitting Governor Emeka
\nIhedioha. The Appeal court which is\u00a0 \u00a0 currently churning out judgments
\nin quick successions on election petitions brought before it so as\u00a0 to
\nmeet the 60-day limit provided by the 2010\u00a0 Electoral Act and the 1999
\nconstitution as amended turned down their requests and endorsed the
\ntribunal\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n
Obviously, the cyclical vast volume of elections petitions in Imo has
\nintrinsically become an organic structure of the state.\u00a0 Instance
\nabounds in the 2007 governorship election in the state when the elected
\ngovernor at the time, Ikedi Ohakim had a whopping 19 petitions against
\nhim by his opponents. Key among his petitioners were: Senator Ifeanyi
\nAraruma who was People\u2019s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate and Chief
\nMartin Agbaso, All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA). The final
\njudgment on the petitions by the Supreme Court dragged into the tail end
\nof Ohakim\u2019s four-year tenure.<\/p>\n
Imo was typically at it again after this year\u2019s general elections. No
\nfewer than 11 petitions were\u00a0 \u00a0 at inception of the tribunal sitting in
\nOwerri, brought against Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, who was declared winner
\nof the governorship election by the Independent National Electoral
\nCommission (INEC). Indeed, the highest number of petitions against any
\nelected governor in the country.<\/p>\n
Curiously, all the three major opponents of Ihedioha in the March 9,
\n2019 governorship election raised petitions against him, alleging
\nelectoral malpractices and failure to secure one-quarter votes in
\ntwo-thirds local councils in the state.\u00a0 They are: Uche Nwosu, Action
\nAlliance, Senator Ifeanyi Arararume, All Progressives Grand Alliance and
\nSenator Hope Uzodinma, All Progressives Congress. While Ararume is
\nseeking that the election be cancelled and a fresh one conducted, Nwosu
\nwants both rerun and to be declared winner.\u00a0 Uzodinma who was placed a
\ndistant fourth after the election also bizarrely wishes the court to
\nadjudge him winner.<\/p>\n
This piece was not designed to disparage genuinely aggrieved candidates
\nwho approach the court to seek redress over election issues as the
\njudiciary still remains the bastion of those who are wronged by ensuring
\nthat justice is dispensed. This narrative is rather geared towards
\ndiscouraging frivolous election petitions that result in wasting the
\nprecious resources of the tribunal and courts and also restrain the pace
\nof development of the affected state. This is unfortunately where Imo
\nhas found itself in a wrong ring of history. Accordingly, the position
\nof the law on the petitions brought against Ihedioha\u00a0 as established by
\nthe tribunal and the Appeal Court\u00a0 underscore this submission.<\/p>\n
In their separate rulings both the tribunal and Appeal Court submitted
\nthat the petitions of Nwosu, Ararume and Uzodinma\u00a0 were based on hearsay
\nand therefore lacked merit given their failure to back their claims with
\nevidence. \u201cHearsay evidence is not admissible in court,\u201d the Appeal
\nCourt emphasized.\u00a0 This explains the frivolous nature of the petitions
\nand the reason why the state has become a laughing stock in the sphere
\nof other states. This finds further authentication in the fact that
\nNigeria law system and court processes are anchored fundamentally on
\nnothing but hard evidence.<\/p>\n
Against the above background, it is only plausible to observe that
\nhaving declared the result of an election, it is presumed that the
\nresult so declared by INEC is correct, valid and authentic and has
\nsatisfied the conditions stipulated in the constitution and Electoral
\nAct. The onus therefore lies on the petitioner to prove otherwise based
\non evidence; else the appellant is merely pursuing shadow.<\/p>\n
It is indeed unassailable that vast, constant and sustained election
\npetitions are inherently unfavorable and unhealthy to any state. Former
\ngovernor\u00a0 Ohakim who once wore the shoe and knew where it pinched has on
\na number of occasions driven this point home, advising Ihedioha
\nopponents to sheath their sword for the interest of the state.
\n\u201cContinuing with the court cases would be inimical to the progress of
\nthe state. It would scare away development partners and other investors
\nbecause investors do not invest where there are litigations. The
\nnumerous litigations I faced were the reason why the foreign partners
\nfor the refinery project located at Ohaji\/Egbema Local Government Area
\npulled out\u201d, he revealed.<\/p>\n
DR. AUSTIN UGANWA, SENIOR SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO IMO GOVERNMENT ON
\nDOCUMENTATION WROTE FROM OWERRI<\/p>\n
BY AUSTIN UGANWA Imo State is a patent\u00a0 study in vast and sustained election petitions. And this is incontrovertible. The six times general elections have been conducted in the country…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":70832,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-70831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\n