In an earlier ruling, the Election
Petitions Tribunal, which relocated from Uyo to Abuja, nullified the
governorship election in 18 out of the 31 local government areas leaving
13 where Emmanuel would still have had 495,204 valid votes as against
Umana’s 37, 572 were the status quo maintained.
But both parties, not satisfied with the
tribunal judgement, headed to the Court of Appeal in Abuja. While the
PDP wanted a reversal to status quo ante, the APC wanted total
nullification to set the tone for a fresh election in all local
government areas.
On December 18, 2015, the Court of Appeal
granted the APC’s wish when it nullified the April 11, 2015 election
and ordered a rerun.
The PDP kicked against the ruling and headed to the Supreme Court.
Since the PDP moved to the Supreme Court,
there have been diverse pre-emptive expressions of faith in the
integrity of the court to deliver judgment that would be favourable to
the party concerned.
Former national chairman of the defunct All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP), now BoT member of APC, Chief Don Etiebet, told Daily Sun
that, “the Supreme Court would look at the fact of the judgment of the
Appeal Court; and I know everything was quite legalistic, constitutional
and up to the point; no ambiguity whatsoever.
Also former chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Information, who represented Eket Federal Constituency, Mr. Eseme Eyiboh, told Daily Sun
he believed the Supreme Court would toe the line of the Court of
Appeal: “I expect justice. And the justice of it is that they will
affirm the judgment of the Court of Appeal. I am not pre-empting it but
it is because of the justice of it.”
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