By legislatorvoice
Attempts by the All Progressives Congress, APC to reduce the number of opposition members in Ebonyi State House of Assembly crashed as the National and State Assembly petition Tribunal upheld the election of Charlse Nkwoemezie Onu, who belongs to the People Democratic Party, PDP.
The opposition parties in the State Assembly have three PDP members, one All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA member and one Labour Party member in the house respectively.
The APC candidate in the March 18, Governorship and State Assembly elections in Ebonyi, Chima Ude Umanta, had brought petitions before the Tribunal against Onu, his party, PDP and the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC for declaring Onu winner of the election to represent
Onicha West State Constituency, in the state Assembly.
It is to be recalled that INEC declared Charles Nkwoemezie Onu the winner for the March 18,2023, State election for Onicha West State constituency House of Assembly, having polled 4506 votes as a against his closest rival, Chima Ude-umanta who polled 3596 votes.
But the State Assembly Elections Tribunal sitting in Abuja, September 13 2023, dismissed the suit, saying that it lacks merit.
In a unanimous Judgement by the three man panel, the Judges ruled that APC and her candidate failed to provide the Court with necessary evidence against the victory of the PDP candidate.
The Court also expressed dismay over what it described as "lack of diligence" in prosecuting the case.
The court explained how Counsel to Umanta and APC failed to serve the necessary parties within the stipulated time of the law.
The Court asserted that it doesn't have the powers to extend the deadlines of the Tribunal as stipulated in the Electoral Act 2022.
The Court therefore dismissed Umanta petition and awarded a total cost of N750, 000 to Umanta in order of 250,000 each to Hon. Onu, People's Democratic Party (PDP) and INEC.
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