By Austin Ogwuda
Warri Federal Lawmaker, Ereyitomi to know fate soon over alleged certificate forgery as Tribunal reserves judgment
The National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Asaba has reserved judgment in a petition filed by Ekpoto-Ekpoto Emmanuel of the All Progressives Congress (APC) challenging the election of the member representing Warri Federal Constituency seat in the Federal House of Representatives, Hon Thomas Ereyitomi of PDP.
The petitioner, Ekpoto-Ekpoto Emmanuel is asking the tribunal to nullify the declaration of Thomas Ereyitomi by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the winner of the election and instead, declare him (Ekpoto-Ekpoto Emmanuel) the winner.
Joined in the petition marked EPT/HR/15/2023 are 1st respondent (INEC), 2nd respondent (PDP) and 3rd respondent (Thomas Ereyitomi).
Mr. Oghenero Okoro, counsel to petitioner in his final written address submitted that the election that produced Ereyitomi was fraught with irregularities and also accused him of forging his West African Examination Council, WAEC result.
According to him, “what Section 6611 of the 1999 Constitution as Amended seeks to penalise, is integrity, and that if the 3rd respondent must sit in the National Assembly to make laws, he must be like Caesar’s wife and be above board”.
He urged the tribunal to “discountenance all the preliminary objections and hold that the 3rd respondents was not qualified for infracting against Section 6611(I) of the 1999 Constitution and declare him, the petitioner as the winner”.
Ekeme Ohwovoriole (SAN), counsel to the 3rd respondent (Ereyitomi) urged the tribunal to dismiss the petition for lack of merit; while counsel to PDP, Robinson Ariyo also in his final written address aligned with the submission of the counsel to the 3rd respondent.
They submitted that the petition was incompetent and inconsistent in material facts, and urged the tribunal to dismiss the petition.
Ohwovoriole particularly noted that the petitioner failed to tender copies of Forms EC8A(II) to be compared with the original copy.
He further argued that the petitioner could not establish the allegation of over-voting as the BVAs report from the inspection in each polling unit where the alleged malpractice occured did not support the petitioner’s case.
Ariyo, in his final written address, adumbrated that since the institution that issued the certificate did not issue a disclaimer, the case should be dismissed for lack of merit.
Following the formal adoption of the written addresses the three man panel led by Justice Catherine Ogunsola reserved judgment to a date to be communicated to the respective counsel.