Enugu, A’Ibom election tribunals receive 29 petitions

…INEC issues certificate of return to Ebonyi gov-elect, 17 legislators-elect
…Fixes April 15 for rerun

ABOUT 14 petitions has so far been received from aggrieved parties and candidates in the February 25 National Assembly elections by the Election Petition Tribunal (EPT) sitting in Enugu.

  Secretary of the tribunal, Yusuf Folmi, disclosed this while speaking with newsmen in Enugu, yesterday.

  According to Mr. Folmi, the petitions were expected to be filed within the stipulated time frame given for the submission of petitions by any aggrieved candidate and parties.

  “The tribunal has only received 14 petitions and it is expecting more. The parties that had filed petitions so far were the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party (LP), as well as their candidates, including John Ede, Onwuegbu Anayo, Okey George, Cornelius Nnaji and Festus Amaechina. Out of the number of the petitions filed, 12 petitions are from candidates for the House of Representatives while the remaining two are from the candidates for Senate,” he said.

  In a related development, National Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal in AkwaIbom, has received 15 petitions on the elections of February 25.

  The tribunal’s secretary, Ibrahim Usman, stated this in Uyo, yesterday.

  According to him, 11 petitions were on the House of Representatives elections while the remaining four were on senatorial elections.

It will be recalled that Electoral Act 2022 allows 21 days from the date of declaration of election results for petitions to be filed and 21 days for respondents to file their responses.

  Also, Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC), yesterday, issued certificates of return to the governor-elect of Ebonyi State, Francis Nwifuru and 17 members of the state House of Assembly that were elected during the election.

  Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Ebonyi State, Pauline Onyeka, also used the ceremony to announce that INEC has scheduled April 15 for supplementary elections for Ezza North-IshieluFederal Constituency and five state House of Assembly constituencies in the state.