It is no longer news that the Delta State Gubernatorial Elections Petitions have been won and lost but what is trending now at the moment are allegations that the judgment may have been procured by the ruling party in the State.
The opposition elements in the state hinged their arguments that the election in Delta State should have been cancelled in view of the developments from the Governorship Election Petition Tribunals at Akwa Ibom and Rivers States, which nullified the elections of Governors Udom Emmanuel and Nyesom Wike, respectively.
This resulted to the pipe dream of Labour Party, (LP) and the All Progressives Congress, (APC) governorship candidates in Delta State in the April 11, 2015 governorship election, Chief Great Ovedje Ogboru and Olorogun O’tega Emerhor who have anticipated that Delta State would follow suite.
However, their hope was dashed as the three-man 2015 Election Petition Tribunal in the state, chaired by Justice Nasiru Gunmi,who darted their expectations as the Tribunal did not invalidate results in any Local Government, and never ordered any re-run as canvassed by the petitioners.
The tribunal not only sustained the election of the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ifeanyi Okowa as Delta Governor, it also dismissed their petitions with opprobrium.
Starting with the petition by Chief Great Ogboru and his party, the tribunal held that the petitioners were under obligation to prove their claims that the election of Senator Okowa as governor did not substantially comply with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2010 as amended, but contrary to expectation, they abandoned the roadway and pursued shadow during the proceedings.
As far as the tribunal was concerned, Ogboru and Labour Party woefully failed to prove their assertions of ballot stuffing and other electoral malpractices. As if saying the petitioners came to waste the time of the tribunal given that their witnesses appallingly contradicted themselves in their testimonies, the tribunal awarded N50, 000 costs against each of the petitioners.
Justice Gunmi gave clue of the tribunal’s displeasure with the demeanour of the petitioners’ witnesses when Mr. Turner Ogboru, a younger brother to Ogboru, appeared before it earlier on September 16. He commented that the way he answered questions by lawyers to respondents might be injurious to the case of the petitioners.
He said, “Don’t stretch our patience, maybe we have to take an adjournment and ask your counsel to advice you on how to behave. You are a witness in this matter, whatever relationship you have with counsels does not count here, and you should answer the questions directly, so please help us. I want you to know that the evidence you give will determine your case, if you do not comport yourself, I do not know how you are helping in this matter.”
In the case of the APC’s petition the tribunal was meticulous in using its sledge hammer to bid the case farewell.
The conclusion of the tribunal, especially in the Emerhor/APC case against Okowa, was that the petitioners incorrectly thought that with the verdict of the Rivers tribunal to the effect that INEC compromised the election in the state with the use of incident forms, rather than adherence to card reader, would automatically boomerang in Delta.
Though the tribunal overrode the preliminary objections of the respondents that Emerhor was not competent to bring the action and lacked locus standi, it said the uncorroborated malfunction of the card reader; a complement to the accreditation process at some polling units did not invalidate Okowa’s election.
What dumbfounded the tribunal the more and which counted greatly in favour of Okowa, was the seemingly clumsy manner the petitioners went about the case. Indeed, this was the decisive factor for the governor.
As the panel said, “The petition is unusual for a gubernatorial electoral petition; it contains only 17 paragraphs, on seven pages of A4 paper. There are 25 local government areas in Delta state and by virtue of polling units…, there are at least, 3,329 polling units in Delta state. One would have thought that there would have been pleadings on what transpired in the polling units but this was not the case.”
The panel said it was, therefore, not surprised at the lean pleadings of the petition, as the petitioners dwelt more on the use of card readers vis-a-vis their deployment for the election and the authority of INEC introducing it in the first instance, instead of proving the allegation of corrupt practices they canvassed.
In fact, it wondered why the petitioners did not adduce factual situations that occurred at some of the over 3,000 polling units in the state to substantiate their case. For the avoidance of doubt, it said the electoral umpire had the authority to introduce card reader and make other regulations for the conduct of elections in the country.
The tribunal did not see how unproven hitches experienced with the card reader would amount to a failure of a device used for the first time in the country to eliminate the same corrupt practices the petitioners complained.
The panel said it was not enough for the petitioners to seek declaratory reliefs from it, saying they should prove their case before looking forward to reliefs, adding that it was their responsibility to establish the existence of toxic votes in the ballots counted for Okowa.
It held that out of the 715,392 votes earlier uploaded by INEC from its server in June and the 715,592 votes at the end of August, the petitioners did not bear out the toxic votes and it was not the assignment of the tribunal to prove the case of the petitioners. In any case, it said the petitioners’ dependence on the uploaded figure of INEC was insufficient and never advanced their case.
The tribunal ruled that it was wrong for the petitioners to rely on the weakness of the case of the respondents, saying in all, they failed to demonstrate that INEC did not conduct the election in substantial accordance with the Electoral Act.
In dismissing the APC Petition, Justice Gunmi said in view of the inability of the APC to prove their case, their petition is bound to fail, has failed and is hereby dismissed with a fine of N50, 000 as costs to the respondents. Speaking shortly after his victory at the tribunal, Governor Okowa gave thanks to God and urged his opponents as Deltans who have the people’s interests at heart to join his administration in moving the state forward.
The governor who was in company of his wife Dame Edith Okowa, his Deputy Barrister Kingsley Otuaro, and wife Engr. Ebiere Otuaro, Senator James Manager, PDP Chairman Chief Edwin Uzor and other top government functionaries gave thanks to God at the Government House Chapel, Asaba.
According to the Governor, “today’s affirmation of my victory by the tribunal was an invitation to all and sundry to join hands with this administration to move the state forward,” adding, “in particular, I extend my hand of fellowship to Chief Great Ogboru of the Labour Party and Olorogun O’tega Emerhor of the All Progressive Congress, both of whom I am sure are desirous to see Delta become a centre of excellence in all spheres of human endeavour.
“These men are my brothers, we went into elections not war, they are not my enemies and I look forward to welcome whatever idea and suggestions they have for the developmental aspirations of our beloved Delta State.
“Delta State cannot afford another round of litigations, it will be no use continuing these needless litigations, we burn our money, we burn our time to the detriments of Deltans, it is time to think Deltans, it is not about political parties but about Delta State,” the Governor said amidst thunderous amen by the mammoth crowd that attended the thanksgiving service.
The Governor urged Deltans to be united and cooperate with his administration to enable it deliver on its electoral promise of prosperity for all Deltans. While using the occasion to thank Deltans and his supporters in different parts of the world for encouraging him, the Governor assured Deltans of his administration’s commitment to diversify the economy and make the state the food basket of the country.
Nelson Egware is Special Assistant, Media, to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa
