TheCable

The Delta state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has expressed optimism  that O’tega Emerhor,its candidate in the April 11 election, will win at the appeal court.

The state election tribunal upheld the victory of Ifeanyi Okowa, governor of the state but Jones Erue, APC chairman in the state, described the ruling as “travesty of justice”.

“Although many had expected the panel to give a verdict ordering a full or partial rerun as in Rivers and Akwa-Ibom states respectively, the tribunal ruled, instead, to affirm Okowa’s victory,” he said in a statement.

“This, they based on several technicalities, including ‘front-loading’ regarding the testimony by the star witness, Mr. Ore Ohimoi – a detailed analysis which proved the aforementioned over-voting. This led to the said testimony being expunged.

“During the course of the tribunal proceedings, the petitioner tendered evidence which proved that over-voting had occurred in 61% of polling units across the state, and a subpoenaed witness, Mrs. Abimbola Oladunjoye – who served as a deputy director at the INEC IT department, also testified that the total accreditation figure for the Delta state gubernatorial election was 715,392, a curious revelation that Okowa had been declared winner with 724,680 votes.”

Erue said his party presented enough evidence at the tribunal, wondering how the panel arrived at its decision.

“How could the panel have arrived at the conclusion that manual accreditation took place when even the PDP’s star witness had stated in court that it did not?” he asked.

“It was shocking how the panel had both accepted that INEC had the authority to make the use of card readers mandatory and that non-compliance was enough grounds for cancellation of an election, yet went ahead to throw out the petitioner’s plea.

“The tribunal’s insistence on manual accreditation was a convenient excuse which amounted to helping the PDP and Okowa.

“Emerhor will laugh last. Fingers remain crossed as Emerhor and APC proceed to take their case to the appeal court.”