A’Ibom election: APC refuses to give up, tells Buhari what to do about Supreme Court judgment

– The verdict of the Supreme Court on the Akwa Ibom governorship election is still generating ripples

– The APC in Akwa Ibom state has urged President Buhari to step in and address the apex court’s verdict

– Umana Umana, the APC governorship candidate in the state is of the opinion that the court’s verdict was bias

The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Akwa Ibom State is not happy with the judgment of the Supreme Court on the state’s governorship election and has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to probe it.

In a statement issued on Saturday, February 6 by Amadu Attai, the state chairman, the party described the verdict as “weird, arbitrary and an inexplicable endorsement of violence and electoral fraud that was procured by the use of state power and resources for evil ends,” Premium Times reports.

Supreme court upheld Governor Emmanuel Udom’s election

“We believe such enquiry is inevitable to address the possible consequences of the Supreme Court judgment which is bound to encourage resort to self help, violence and all forms of illegality and barbarity in the quest for power,” the statement read.

The apex court had on February 3, upheld the election of Udom Emmanuel of the Peoples Democratic Party as the governor of Akwa Ibom in the April 11, 2015 governorship election in the state.

The APC said it had submitted enough evidence before the tribunal to prove that no election was conducted in the state.

READ ALSO: Photo: Tompolo congratulates Udom,Okowa, Ikpeazu

According to the party, Udom had no explanation as to how 437, 128 accredited voters by card readers or 448, 307 accredited voters by voter’s register could validly produce 1, 122, 836 votes which was purportedly cast in the election, 996,071 of which were declared for him.

The state chairman said: “These were findings from certified true copies of INEC documents, which were upheld by the Court of Appeal.

“The case of over-voting and other irregularities were painstakingly established in 27 local government areas out of 31, with 2,982 polling units.

“In his pleadings, Udom Emmanuel had said he would tender incident forms to account for the differentials. They were never tendered, even though the incident forms were taken to Abuja from Uyo, because they were filled several weeks after the election and therefore could not be signed by the designated INEC staff.”

The party noted that former Akwa Ibom governor, Godswill Akpabio’s alleged conduct inside the Supreme Court on the day of the judgment called to question, the integrity of the court.

Attai said: “As soon as the Justices of the Supreme Court retired to their chamber to consider their judgment, the Senate minority leader, Senator Godswill Akpabio, arrived obviously on cue by 8 p.m. with a large contingent of praise singers, and proceeded to address PDP supporters within the court premises, telling them that it was all over,” Mr. Attai said in the statement.

READ ALSO: Akwa-Ibom, Abia: PDP celebrates supreme court rulings

“With the shout of his supporters renting the air, Akpabio caused quite a stir as he swept into the courtroom, breaking all protocols in a frenzy of banters with PDP and Udom Emmanuel’s lawyers whom he equally assured, ‘It is all over.’”

The election of Udom had been nullified by the Akwa Ibom election tribunal in 18 out the 31 local government areas in the state.

The case was taken to the Court of Appeal, Abuja, and it was also nullified.

In a swift turn of event, the Supreme Court set aside the judgments of the lower court and the Court of Appeal, and decided the case in favour of Governor Udom.

The APC governorship candidate in Akwa Ibom state, Umana Umana, had earlier said that the Supreme Court judgment “calls for very serious soul-searching by our nation.”

In reaction, the PDP Governors’ Forum said the court’s judgment had reinforced the belief that the judiciary remains the hope of the common man, describing the court as the saviour of democracy in the country.

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