CSO urges tribunal not to accept backdoor petitions

A civil society organisations had advised the Kogi Off-Cycle Governorship Election Petition Tribunal not to allow any aggrieved political party to file petition from the backdoor.

Yetunde Shaibu, Convener, United Front for Democracy (UFD), made the call during a news conference in Lokoja on Monday.

Shaibu alleged: “Credible intelligence reaching us has it that the candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) is yet to file his petition against the winner of the Nov. 11 election, Alhaji Usman Ododo, 22 days after the declaration of results by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).”

The convener said the results of the election were declared on Nov. 12, whose 21 days window elapsed at the midnight of Dec. 3.

“Section 134 of the Electoral Act is very clear as to when an electoral petition can be filed with all allegations and evidence relating to the petition front-loaded.

“By virtue of Section 134 of the Electoral Act, the SDP has failed to file their petition within the period allowed by law and should therefore be made not to waste the time of the Honourable Panel.

“The wisdom of the Electoral Act is that anyone with credible evidence should be able to put such forward within the legally stipulated period.

“We are however disappointed that the SDP is about to lose the opportunity to test the law with a competent petition.

“The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the African Democratic Congress (ADC) opted to avoid the embarrassment of searching in futility for evidence by deciding not to challenge the election at the tribunal, ” he said.

But shaibu said that UFD would want to leave the determination of the validity of a petition filed out of time to the panel to determine.

“As a civil society organization, our wish was to see elections challenged, but in a proper way that satisfies the requirements of administrative, judicial and legal procedures.

“Anything short of that will lead to a dangerous compromise and will be challenged with incontrovertible facts and evidence.

“We are watching and the world is watching to ensure the right thing is done, ” he said.

The UFD convener, however, condemned the recent attack on the residence of the Resident Electoral Commissioner in charge of Kogi

While describing the unfortunate incident as a dangerous trend that must not be allowed to stand, he said those who superintended over elections must be allowed to do their job without harassment or intimidation.

“Democracy must be protected by all as it remains the best form of Government to guarantee freedom and prosperity, ” he said.

Responding, The Spokesman of SDP Governorship Campaign Council, Mr Farouk Adejor-Audu, said the party was properly before the tribunal, having filed its petition far before expiration date.

“What the All progressives Congress (APC) and its agents are trying to do is to discredit the tribunal’s image before the eyes of the public.

“What they don’t know is that we have since filed our petition before the tribunal and have moved two of the seven exparte motions we earlier filed.

“APC is jittery because it knows quite well that we have filled our petition but only trying to throw mud on the tribunal to look ugly before the public; this won’t help them, ” the SDP spokesman said.