By Austin Ogwuda
MEMBER representing Aniocha/Oshimili Federal constituency in the National Assembly, Rt. Hon Ngozi Okolie said “my lawyers have briefed me about the judgment of the Tribunal earlier today. I plead with all my supporters and sympathizers to remain calm and keep hope alive.
“Ngozi Okolie is not the person on trial, but our democracy and judiciary is on trial. Thank God there is an opening for appeal and afterwards God is the final Judge. I have briefed my Lawyers to do the needful.
NOBODY will take the mandate of the Aniocha/Oshimili people from the back door. We shall overcome” said Ngozi Okolie in a statement made available to newsmen yesterday.
The National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Asaba, delivering judgment yesterday, nullified the election of Ngozi Okolie of the Labour Party as a member representing the Aniocha/Oshimili Constituency at the House of Representatives.
The tribunal held that the Labour Party did not duly sponsor Okolie as he was not a party member as of May 28, 2022, when the primary was held and went ahead to declare Ndudi Elumelu, who was the first runner up, as the winner of the election thus allowing Ndudi Elumelu’s petition challenging the victory of the Labour Party candidate to succeed.
Lead counsel to Ngozi Okolie, Chike Onyemenam (SAN) had in the final address to the tribunal submitted that the tribunal should dismiss the petition on the ground that “the petitioners ( Hon. Ndudi Elumelu and PDP) abandoned their claims that Honourable Ngozi Okolie of the Labour Party (LP) won the election into the Aniocha/Oshimili Federal Constituency by a landslide victory by defeating Honourable Ndudi Elumelu with more than Twenty Thousand Votes.
“That petitioners also abandoned their claims that the election was rigged or was invalid and that the tribunal should declare the election null and void and order INEC to conduct a fresh Election for Aniocha/Oshimili Federal Constituency.”
Onyemenam prayed the tribunal to also dismiss the petition because “the only ground remaining in the petition is the claim by the petitioners that Hon. Ngozi Okolie was not qualified to contest the election for several reasons”.
Onyemenam further submitted that since none of the three witnesses called by the petitioners adopted a deposition or gave any oral evidence to say that Hon. Ngozi Okolie was not qualified to contest the election for any reason, the petition is deemed in law to have been abandoned.
“As the Supreme Court has decided that where a Petitioner fails to field a witness to adopt his Deposition or fails to lead oral evidence in respect of the petitioner’s claims, the Petitioner is dead and cannot be revived by looking for evidence from the opponents(defendants) to revive a dead petition.
Also cited was the Supreme Court decisions which recently held that “the Tribunal is also not permitted by Law to start inspecting the INEC Documents and Reports tendered by the Petitioners’ Counsel from the Bar and by the INEC Witness on Subpoena without any evidence to support or link the Documents and Reports to any part of the Petition; so as to discover violations inside the Documents, because the Supreme Court has decided that such Documents dumped on a Tribunal without Oral evidence are worthless Documents.
Onyemenam, in addition cited “the Supreme Court Judgments which established that PDP and its Candidate do not have the Locus Standi or right to complain that Labour Party and its Candidate did not hold Primary Election for which the Petitioners equally did not lead any Oral evidence in respect of, save to tender Reports and Exhbits not linked to any Oral evidence or any part of the Petition and urged the Honourable Tribunal to dismiss the Petition for failure of the Petitioners to lead any evidence, let alone, credible evidence, to make out a prima facie case against Honourable Ngozi Okolie and Labour Party”.