September 17, (THEWILL) – The Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in some states has upturned the election of several prominent individuals and dashed their hopes of either reclaiming their electoral mandate or never smelling the position they vied for, at least for now. First to get his petition kicked out was Chinedum, the first son of Theodore Orji, a former governor of Abia State. Chinedum, a prominent figure in Abia’s political landscape, previously served as the Speaker of the Abia State House of Assembly. He faced defeat in the February general election for the Umuahia/Ikwuano Federal Constituency on the platform of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. The victory in the election was secured by Obi Aguocha, the candidate representing the Labour Party.
Chimedum’s petition was dismissed in an unanimous judgment for lack of merit. Also, former minister, Jerry Gana’s son, Joshua, who was already enjoying the spoils of politics in the House of Representatives, was sent packing by the tribunal and a supplementary election to be held in 26 polling units of the Edati/Lavun/Mokwa Federal Constituency in Niger State, ordered. His sacking was sequel to a petition filed by the candidate of All Progressive Congress (APC), Abdullahi Usman-Gbatamagi, who argued that his opponent shouldn’t have been declared the winner of the election because he did not meet the required margin of victory as stipulated in the Electoral Act, 2022.
Usman-Gbatamagi argued that his margin of victory was less than the number of registered voters in the polling units where elections were not held or were cancelled. The tribunal agreed with him and invalidated the votes in 26 polling units thereby reducing Joshua’s votes and that of Gbatamagi.
Similarly, Abba Umar, the son of Abdullahi Ganduje, the chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC and the immediate past governor of the state, had his petition thrown out after he challenged the victory of Tijjani Abdulkadir Jobe of New Nigerian Peoples Party, NNPP. His arguments that the Rimin Gado, Dawakin Tofa, and Tofa Constituency election was marred with irregularities, over-voting, and non-compliance with the Electoral Act were dismissed as his petition was said to be lacking in merit. Another prominent individual who was sacked by the tribunal was Ikenga Ugochinyere, the member representing Ideato North/South Federal Constituency. Ugochinyere who was the spokesman of the Coalition of United Political Parties, CUPP, contested the election on the platform of PDP. Not only was he sacked, but he was also barred from participating in the supplementary poll.
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