The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has asked the Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Yola to dismiss the petition filed by Social Democratic Party (SDP) governorship candidate Umar Ardo against the victory of Adamawa State, Governor Ahmadu Fintiri, and others.
Following the declaration of Fintiri as the winner of the March 18 governorship poll, the SDP governorship candidate, Umar Ardo, and his running mate, Amos Yusuf, approached the tribunal, challenging the outcome of the exercise.
On May 8, Ardo filed a petition against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Governor Fintiri, and 16 others, alleging that the election was not conducted in substantial compliance with the Electoral Act.
The petitioner further claimed that the first respondent had engaged in corrupt behavior and used threats and violence throughout the exercise. As a result, the petitioner demanded that the entire process be annulled.
However, the first and fourth respondents claimed that the petition is statued barred and that the tribunal cannot accept it because it is not backed by evidence and was not filed in accordance with the requirements of the Electoral Act.
In her judgment, the Chairman of the tribunal, Justice Theodora Uloho declared that the petition was incompetent, defective, incongruous, and not properly instituted before the tribunal and that the petitioners were not certain of what they wanted.
She said that the petitioners had lumped the grounds of corrupt practices and non-compliance with the Electoral Act as well as failed to file written statements of names of witnesses they intended to call.
Justice Uloho declared that the allegations of corrupt practices must be proved with content and credible evidence and failure to do so render the petition without any probative value, worthless and lifeless.
She, therefore, dismissed the petition and awarded the N200,000 in favour of INEC, Fintiri, Farauta Kaletapwa, and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) against the petitioners.
