More political parties and aggrieved candidates in the just-concluded general elections have filed petitions with election tribunals nationwide.
In Rivers State, the tribunal has received 13 petitions challenging the conduct of the National Assembly election results.
Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and Peoples Mandate Party (PMP) candidates, Shedrack Akaloku and Abraham Igwe respectively, are challenging the victory of incumbent Senator Wilson Asinobi Ake as senator-elect to represent Rivers West Senatorial District at the National Assembly.
In their separate petitions, the duo claimed that the election was marred by gross irregularities and that the votes cast at the election were not correctly added up or counted at the polling units and also at the collation centre.
Akaloku who scored 32,558 votes to come second against Ake's 144,168 votes, said the same pattern of irregularities took place in Bonny, Degema, Ahoada East and Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local
Councils. Similarly, Igwe has demanded for the certified true copies of completed result forms of wards and councils covering the senatorial district.
So far, only the ACN senatorial candidate, Nomate Kpea, is challenging the result of the Rivers South East, which was won by former Secretary to Rivers State Government, Magnus Abe, of the PDP.
Kpea is disputing the election result in which he had 34,975 votes against Abe's 154,218, on the basis that the election was invalid by reason of substantial non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act.
Both the Action Alliance (AA) and its candidate, Lesilie Chizi Michael Atata are asking the tribunal to declare the Rivers East Senatoral District results null, void and unlawful because the election was held in violation of an Abuja Federal High Court order made on April 7 this year and duly served by court bailiffs on the Independent National Electoral Commission, Rivers State Resident Electoral Commissioner, electoral officers and returning officer of the senatorial district.
Action Alliance and its candidate said the court had directed INEC to include the name of the petitioners on the ballot paper and list of candidates and contestants for the National Assembly election but to no avail.
Results of eight out of the 13 Federal Constituencies in the state have been challenged at the tribunal by aggrieved political parties.
Two parties, namely All Progressive Grand Alliance and the ACN, have filed petitions to challenge the electoral victory of incumbent member representing Ahoada East/Abua/Odual Federal Constituency, Mrs. Betty Okagua Apiafi of the PDP.
Tobsins Oyekuodi of APGA and Gogo Kiikpoye of ACN, who scored 2,326 and 5,579 votes respectively against Apiafi's 41,813, claimed that she was not duly elected by majority of lawful votes cast at the polls.
Other results of the federal constituencies being challenged are those of Ahoada West/Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni, Tai/Eleme/Oyigbo, Andoni/Opobo-Nkoro, Asari-Toru/Akuku-Toru and Khana/Gokana.
All the petitioners alleged that the elections were flawed in that Forms EC8A and EC8B (election result sheet forms) or any other form for the purpose of recording results were made available. Some of them also alleged intimidation of their polling agents by supporters of the ruling PDP.
By yesterday afternoon when The Guardian visited the tribunal secretariat at the Rivers State High Court premises, none of the 29 political parties that participated in the April 26 governorship election had filed petitions to contest the electoral victory of Governor Chibuike Amaechi.
In Jigawa State, the former governor, Saminu Turaki who lost his re-election bid for the Jigawa North West Senatorial district on the platform of the ACN, has filed a petition at the election tribunal in Dutse to challenge the election of Senator-elect, Dr. Danladi Sankara of the PDP.
Secretary of the state's election tribunal, Amina Ibrahim who made the disclosure, said so far, the tribunal has received only five cases all in respect of the National Assembly election.
Ibrahim said the cases were filed by the ACN and its respective candidates that took part in the election. "We now have five cases, one for senatorial election and the remaining four all for the members of the House of Representatives," he said.
She further disclosed that all the cases are between the ACN and PDP. "The senatorial case is that of Jigawa North West Senatorial District, while the House of Representatives cases are that of Dutse/Kiyawa, Gagarawa/Gumel/Maigatari/ Suletankarka, Garki/ Babura and Kazaure/Gwiwa/Roni/Yankwashi Federal constituencies.
"We are now serving the parties and we have received response from INEC which is among the respondents," Ibrahim disclosed.
Meanwhile, the governor-elect of Borno State, Kashim Shettima and the All Nigeria People's Party (ANPP) on which he won the gubernatorial election have urged the opposition PDP to accept defeat at the polls and imbibe the spirit of sportsmanship in politics, instead of going to the election petition tribunal to seek redress.
The state's Information Commissioner, Inuwa Bwala who spoke yesterday in Maiduguri at the Musa Usman secretariat complex, on the claims of election irregularities by the PDP, said the PDP should refrain from making mischievous allegations on how the gubernatorial elections were conducted by INEC.
Shettima and ANPP have already extended to the opposition a hand of fellowship, so that all the stakeholders and other opposition parties could move the state forward.
In Benue State, the Co-ordinator of Justice and Rights Initiative, Mr. Justine Gbagir, has declared that politicians who lost during the polls have the election tribunals as the best place to contest such electoral victories if they believe that they may have been short-changed.
In an interview with The Guardian in Makurdi, Gbagir, a constitutional lawyer and human rights activist, believes that the constitution of the election tribunals at all levels remains the best way to address electoral conflicts rather than resort to self-help.
"The situation today in the country is such that the constitution of the election tribunals would provide a platform for all those who lost elections and believe that such defeats were not lawful or in accordance with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2010 as amended.
"These defeated politicians would get justice at the tribunals if they have complied substantially with the provisions of the law when compiling their petitions and have credible evidence to prove that there were electoral malpractices that affected negatively the electoral results as declared by INEC," he said.
Source: More parties, candidates throng polls' tribunals over grievances (http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=47468:more-parties-candidates-throng-polls-tribunals-over-grievances&catid=1:national&Itemid=559)
Winners are always riggers. Politicians will never be satisfied...
I want to tell Nigerians that Election riggers are Arm Robbers. Not election winners are riggers. Election Tribunal should return stolen mandates to whom ever it demand.