A/Ibom Guber Tribunal: Parties Adopt Final Written Addresses

Parties to the Akwa Ibom State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal (GEPT) in a case the Young Progressives Party (YPP) candidate, Senator Bassey Akpan,  filed against the outcome of the election that produced incumbent Governor Umo Bassey Eno, of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), have adopted their final written addresses in readiness for judgement any time soon, LEADERSHIP Friday learnt yesterday in Uyo, the state capital.

The 3-man Election Panel headed by Justice A. A. Adeleye, is expected to deliver judgement on the issues bordering on alleged certificate forgery by Governor Eno which, counsel to Senator Akpan, argued, rendered him ineligible for the governorship election, coupled with allegations of malpractices during the poll.

At the resumed hearing, counsels to the petitioners and respondents made their submissions to the tribunal, citing relevant authorities to back up their arguments.

Counsel to the petitioner, Tunde Falola, expressed optimism on the possible outcome of the case, relying on what he described as “the weighty grounds for the petition being forgery and electoral irregularities.”

Falola, pointedly told the tribunal that “the candidate of the PDP for the 2023 Governorship election in Akwa Ibom was not qualified to contest as at the time of the election,” arguing that “Eno submitted a forged West Africa Examinations Council (WAEC) certificate to the election umpire, INEC, as evidenced in his form EC9, and presented to the tribunal.”

Besides, a subpoenaed witness from WAEC, one Adekanmbi Olaolu, he recalled, had on June 20, 2023, appeared before the tribunal to denounce the certificate purportedly submitted by the PDP candidate.

According to him, “The witness had told the tribunal that a candidate takes responsibility for infraction in his/her names,” noting that “the examination body presents a window for candidates to remedy or correct such infractions in order or spelling of names.”

Corroborating the testimony of the subpoenaed witness, Falola told the tribunal that the 2nd respondent (Eno), did not present any document reconciling that he also bears Bassey Umo Eno, which appears in the June 1981 WAEC certificate, as against Eno Umo Bassey, which he submitted to the INEC before the elections, stressing that “Eno did not front – load a deed poll as provided for by the Supreme Court to reconcile his names.”

Besides, Falola pointed out that “the 2nd respondent, while responding to the petition, said he would be relying on Certified True Copies (CTC) of his 1981and 83 certificates obtained from WAEC, which he later abandoned while presenting witnesses.”

On Eno’s expulsion from the University of Uyo (UNIUYO), in 2005,  counsel to the Petitioners submitted that the 2nd respondent could not produce J. S. Aborishade and Aniedi Abasi Udofia, who respectively signed the employment and promotion letters of Daniel Akpan, a subpoenaed witness and staff of UNIUYO, who certified documents linked to the alleged expulsion of Eno.