40 days after a court judgment nullifying the victory of the Speaker of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly, Mr. Kombowei Benson, the Speaker has continued to remain in office. A copy of the appellate court’s judgment, which was obtained by the media, indicated that the April 2015 election that returned Benson as a member of the House was nullified on December 9, 2015.
Last Thursday, the Speaker even chaired the House that received the 2016 Appropriation Bill of the state government from Governor Seriake Dickson. The Speaker was sacked in a case filed by Mr. Ebifaghe Orunimighe, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress for the House of Assembly seat in Southern Ijaw Constituency 4.
The APC candidate had challenged the victory of Kombowei on the grounds that election did not take place in four wards and that in the areas where election took place, there were cases of over-voting. Oruminighe particularly said in his petition that there was no election in Olodiama Ward 3, Apoi Ward 15, Forupa Ward 14 and Ukubie Ward 16.
On October 16, 2015, the House of Assembly Election Petition Tribunal presided over by Justice Ononnaeze Madu dismissed Orunimighe’s petition for lack of proofs. But justices Mohammed Garba, Ejembi Eko and Stephen Adah, who sat on the appeal panel that delivered the judgment set aside the decision of the tribunal and upheld the prayers of Oruminighe.
In the judgment delivered by Justice Eko, the panel decided that the appellants proved with their evidence that there was no election in Appoi Ward, yet results were posted in result sheets that were earlier snatched and collated into the overall results of the constituency.
The panel, which also held that there was an inexplicable over voting, said, “The line of attack by the appellants under issue 2 is that upon proper evaluation of exhibit P vis-a-vis the total number of vote cast at the election put at 34,985 as announced by INEC, there was an inexplicable over voting.
Source
The Punch
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