Accord Party Reacts As Rivers Tribunal Reserves Judgment In Briggs’ Petition Against Gov Fubara

The Rivers State Governorship Election Tribunal sitting in Abuja on Wednesday reserved judgment in the petition filed by the governorship candidate of the Accord Party, Dumo Lulu Briggs, against Rivers Governor Simi Fubara and others after parties adopted their final written addresses and made their respective oral submissions.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had announced Sim Fubara as the winner of the governorship poll with 302,614 votes.

Tonye Cole of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was said to have scored 95,274 votes while Beatrice Itubo of the Labour Party came third with 22,224 votes.

But Briggs approached the Tribunal with a petition insisting that the election in Rivers state was marred by alleged non-compliance to the Electoral Act, including unlawful overvoting and inflation of votes credited to the Rivers state governor.

Emmanuel Ukala SAN, counsel for Fubara, urged the Tribunal to dismiss the case.

The senior lawyer said while the crux of the petition is that there were aborted elections in 1,485 polling units, non-compliance to the Electoral Act, and unlawfulness of votes credited to his client, the petitioner could not prove it beyond a reasonable doubt.

He argued that the petitioner was expected to provide proof, polling unit by polling unit, to prove non-compliance and corrupt practices.

Citing the consolidated case between Peter Obi of the Labour Party and INEC, wherein the LP petition was dismissed by the Presidential Election Petition Court, Ukala argued that the Accord Party candidate fell far short of the legal responsibility placed on them to prove their case.

He maintained that the petitioners ought to have called witnesses in the polling units in dispute but ended up calling 10 witnesses.

INEC counsel, Steve Adehi SAN, also citing the PEPC Judgment against Obi, said the petitioners dumped their evidence before the court without explaining them.

“They have the duty to link their evidence to their case,” Adehi opined, and urged the Tribunal to dismiss the petition for failing to present credible witnesses and evidence.

Briggs’ lawyer, A.J. Owonikoko SAN, adopted his processes, including those challenging the admission of the respondent’s submissions.

He urged the court to uphold the case of the petitioners and grant the reliefs sought.

He said his petition was about the election and return, adding that the respondents were unable to answer the question of the invalid return of Fubara, especially when INEC Form EC40G(2) is nonexistent.

Owonikoko added that the INEC EC40G(2), which confirms the total number of areas where elections were held or did not hold, was not completed by INEC staff before the final result was announced.

On Peter Obi’s case at the PEPC, Owonikoko, who said he was part of the lawyers in the case, held that the matter was dismissed because while Obi alleged corrupt practices during the election, he only called 13 witnesses.

Owonikoko posited that he did not need to call witnesses since he was challenging undue return in view of INEC Form EC40G(2), which was not completed.

“Judgment is reserved, parties shall be informed of the date of the judgment,” said the three-member tribunal, headed by Justice Cletus Emifonye.

Speaking to the press after the court rose, Briggs said he was convinced that his counsel has proved his case very well.

He said he does not intend to “reap where we did not sow,” but was in court to insist that a fraudulent election be canceled.