Tribunal upholds election of Sen Eteng

From Aniekan Aniekan, Calabar

The Cross River State Elections Petition Tribunal has upheld the election of the All Progressives Congress (APC)  member representing Cross River Central Senatorial District Senator Eteng Jonas Williams.

The tribunal headed by Justice O. A. Adeniyi said Senator Eteng,  won the February 25th 2023 general elections after recomputing the scores of the elections.

The petitioners Hon. Bassey Ewa, a member of the People’s Democratic Party and also  a former  speaker of the state House of Assembly had approached the court seeking  six reliefs.

Bassey Ewa through his counsel, Mba Ukweni, SAN in suit number EPT/CR/SEN/01/2023  sought a declaration that the Ist respondent (Eteng Williams) did not score majority of lawful votes and thus not duly elected and returned.

He also sought relief from the court cancelling votes of all the parties in about 96 polling units spread across the Central Senatorial District where there was clear evidence of over voting.

He sought a re – computation of votes in the Central Senatoyri district and declaration of the first petitioner as winner of the election.

He also sought an order withdrawing the certificate of return issued by INEC and issuing the first petitioner winner of the election.

However in a three hour judgment, Justice O. A. Adeniyi said the petitioner was able to establish cases of over-voting in only 49 polling units in the Central Senatorial District out of the 96 it claimed.

The tribunal said that whereas the BIVAS recorded 0 votes for accreditation in the affected areas, the third respondent went ahead to allot votes to the candidates.

He gave an order cancelling votes in the affected areas and also recomputed votes for the elections.

The affected areas were fourteen polling units in Abi LGA where 1,275 votes were deducted from the APC and 728 from the PDP.

In Abi, the tribunal voided vote in nine polling units as well as 815 from the APC and 419 from the PDP.

In Etung LGA, the tribunal voided votes in four poling units comprising 137 from the APC and 48 from the PDP.

In Ikom LGA, the tribunal voided votes in three polling units as well as 88 from the APC and 81 from the PDP.

For Obubra, votes from nine polling units were voided comprising 600 from the APC and 418 from the PDP.

Similarly, in Yakurr LGA, results from 10 polling units were voided comprising 954 from the APC and 362 from the PDP.

In all the 49 affected polling units, the APC lost 3, 969 votes while the PDP lost 2, 066 votes.

The recomputed results show that the APC retained it’s victory by garnering 53, 375 votes while the PDP retained it’s runner’s up position with 51, 387 votes.