By Nsa Gill

The two petitioners and four respondents in a petition before the bye-election tribunal sitting over the December 5, 2020 bye-election for Cross River North Senatorial seat have all closed their cases.

The claimants in the petition marked EPT/CR/SEN/03/2020 are the All Progressive Congress (APC) and its candidates Mr Joe Agi (SAN).

The four respondents included  Steven Odey, Jerigbe Agom Jerigbe, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The petitioners and respondents agreed with the bye-election tribunal to resume on May 18 2021 for adoption of their separate final addresses.

The Chairman of the three-man Tribunal, Justice Yusuf Ubale Muhammad last Tuesday explained that before the respondents have 14 days from March 31 to submit their final written addresses.

The Petitioners will also take the subsequent 14 days to reply to the respondents’ final addresses and the respondents take another seven days to reply the petitioners’ final address.

The petitioners through their submissions and the single witness argued that the PDP had no candidate as at December 5, 2020 bye-election and that none of the two persons laying claims to the party ticket participated in all stages of the elections as ordered by the constitution and the provisions of the electoral ACT 2010 as Amended.

Agi  during examination by his lead counsel, Mathew Burka had insisted that he was not challenging the results of the election but seeking to prove that all votes given to the PDP were wasted and that having scored the highest valid votes as the first runner-up going by the result declared by INEC, Agi  should be returned duly elected.

The petitioner further presented various judgments of courts showing that as at the day of the election PDP had two candidates for the by-election when the law does not allow a party to nominate more than one candidate.

Agi told the tribunal that INEC after the election decided to declare Steven Odey, the next day being December 2020, as the elected senator in spite of the fact that both Odey and Jerigbe had judgments of coordinate courts  in their favour and documents of INEC including form EC 60 E published on election day showed that the PDP had no candidate.

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Witness for the PDP, Sani Yewuri a staff in the National Secretariat of the Party in his testimony agreed that there was a conflict that arose from the party primaries and begot two members laying claim to the party candidacy but that the party knows Steven Odey as the candidate in the election.

He however, contradicted himself when he was cross examined by Counsel to Jerigbe Agom Jerigbe also of the PDP, Mba Ukweni (SAN).

Ukweni (SAN) asked if he was aware of various court judgments that were served on the PDP and the directive by the party hierarchy to the congress committee that lists of delegates as approved in a superior court judgment should be used for the primaries of November 4, 2020, he said yes.

The authentic delegate list as approved by the court is the pillar upon which the candidacy of Jerigbe’s claim is resting on.

The PDP witness also during the tribunal session sparked laughter when  he told the tribunal that he witnessed the party primaries in Ogoja Local Government Area on November 4, 2020 but asked where in Ogoja he was, he said Yala, another local government area.

He also claimed to have witnessed the by-election on December 5,  2020 but Ukweni (SAN)  put it to him that he was in Abuja rather.

Ukweni told The Nation that his remarks at the tribunal regretting that the PDP has disowned Jerigbe was in a lighter mood but explained that the substance of their defence is rather in the preliminary objection to the petition which they argued that the petition lacks merit because it should only qualify for a pre-election matter and that the petitioner has no right to question the matters of the PDP which he is not a member.

Counsel to Agi (SAN), the APC candidate insisted in his submissions through witnesses in the tribunal that the PDP had no candidate in the by-election as at the day of the election.

“As at the December 5, they had two valid court order declaring two of them candidate. In an election, a party cannot have two candidates.

Jerigbe took benefit of a judgment delivered on November4,2020,  while Steven took benefit of the judgment delivered on the December5, 2020.

None of them stood for the election by participating in all stages”.

He referred the tribunal to what Supreme Court said in APC versus Marahfa : – “A party that has no candidate in election, cannot be declared the winner of the election. In this case, the votes credited to the first appellants in 2019 election in Zamfara were wasted votes” adding, “SECTION 258 (14) enacted into the constitution repeated the same thing as section 141, that “An Election tribunal or court shall not under any circumstance declare any person a winner at an election in which such a person has not fully participated in all the stages of the said election”.

He noted that if the tribunal accepts the petition, it would consider among other things if any of the PDP candidate participated in all stages of the by-election.