BY Taiwo George
The state house of assembly election petition tribunal sitting in Makurdi, capital of Benue state, has nullified the election of Martins Aza, representing Makurdi-north state constituency in the assembly.
Avine Agbom of the All Progressives Congress (APC) had challenged the victory of Aza, who contested the April 11 election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Agbom alleged that there were electoral malpractices and non-compliance with the electoral laws in the conduct of the election in two council wards – Agan and Mbalan.
Agbom, in his petition, prayed the tribunal to invalidate the results of the two wards and order for fresh election.
Delivering judgment, Mosumola Dipeolu, chairman of the tribunal, said the onus of proof lies with the petitioner, which he did with submissions of relevant evidence.
Dipeolu said the first respondent failed to efficiently counter the allegations in his response, explaining that the testimonies of witnesses presented by the respondents’ counsel were contradictory and unreliable.
The tribunal, therefore, ordered INEC to conduct fresh elections in 20 polling units in Agan and 14 polling units in Mbalan council wards of the constituency within 60.
In a separate judgment, the tribunal also dismissed the petition of Elizabeth Shuluwa, another PDP candidate, for lack of merit and upheld the election of Tor Aye of the Labour Party, who is representing Kastina-Ala west state constituency.
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