The petitions filed by African Democratic Congress candidate Arc. Ezekiel Nyaetok and New Nigeria People’s Party candidate Senator John James Akpan Udoedehe were found to be without merit by the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.
According to ADC member Nyaetok, Pastor Umo Eno was disqualified from the March 18 elections because he had previously been convicted of fraud by a Magistrate Court in Abuja.
He also contested the election results of other candidates who had received more votes than him, claiming that the latter were prevented from running because of pending litigation.
The panel’s chairman, Justice Adekunle Adeleye, however, found that the same magistrate court presided over by Emeka Iyama had previously delivered a ruling nullifying its earlier conviction of Pastor Umo Eno and that such a verdict no longer existed because of the nullification.
Since Nyaetok was unable to point to even a single polling place where the electoral law was not followed during the governorship election held on March 18, the tribunal found that his petition lacked substance.
It was also resolved in favor of governor Umo Eno at the Supreme Court, therefore the NNPP candidate’s petition in suit number. EPW/AKS/GOV/03/23, which concerned claims of certificate fabrication, was thrown out.
The NNPP guber candidate said that Gov. Eno lacked the requisite qualifications to have run for governor in the March 18, 2023 election since he had been sentenced by the Wuse Magistrate Court in Abuja.
He asked the court to nullify the vote and hold a new election within 90 days.
When given the enrolled decision of the Wuse Magistrate Court rejecting its judgement orders, the NNPP candidate stated under cross examination that he was unaware of its existence prior to filing his petition.
The PDP’s legal team, led by Pastor Umo Eno, argued that the NNPP’s petition was “most unambitious” because the petitioner had not only failed to prove the criminal claim of forgery but had also failed to articulate what he wanted.
PDP Counsel Barr Emmanuel Enoidem commented on the ruling, saying that Pastor Umo Eno did fit the constitutional qualifications for Governor and that majority of the petitioners’ arguments related to issues from before the election, which the petitioners had no evidence for.
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