Tribunal reserves judgement in Lulu-Briggs’ petition against Fubara

The Rivers state governorship election petition tribunal has reserved judgement in a case by Dumo Lulu-Briggs, candidate of Accord Party (AP), challenging the electoral victory of Siminalayi Fubara.

A three-member tribunal led by Cletus Emifonye, reserved the judgement after parties in the suit adopted their final written addresses on Wednesday.

Fubara, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was declared the winner of the March 18 governorship election after polling 302,614 votes.

However, Lulu-Briggs is contending that the governor was not elected by a majority of lawful votes.

In adopting their final written addresses, the petitioners argued that the election was marred by substantial non-compliance with the relevant laws and unlawful votes credited to the Fubara. 

Abiodun Owonikoko, counsel to the petitioners, submitted that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) unlawfully returned Fubara as the winner of the election, in breach of section 130 of the Electoral Act, 2022.

He argued that for the return of any candidate in a governorship election to be lawful, INEC must make valid entries in its form EC40(G)2 and also sign the same.

The senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN) said form EC40(G)2, which stipulates the total number of units where votes were cast and not cast, was a necessary legal document that INEC must produce before the tribunal.

He prayed the court to nullify the election and order a fresh poll.

However, Emmanuel Ukaka, Fubara’s counsel, asked the court to disregard the arguments of the petitioners adding that they had failed to prove their claims of irregularities. 

Steve Adehi, counsel to the INEC, asked the tribunal to dismiss the petition.