In what appears to be a lifeline for the embattled Senate President, David Alechenu Bonaventure Mark, the Appeal Court sitting in Jos last Tuesday granted the request of his counsel to file an application against four interlocutory rulings of the election petitions tribunal that nullified the results of two out of the nine local government areas of Benue South senatorial district. The appellate court also granted his application to file 13 additional grounds in his appeal.
The rulings were given by the tribunal on 20 July, 21 August, and 26 September, 2007 and 8 February 2008. The tribunal ruling of 26 September 2007 admitted in evidence the ballot papers used in the National Assembly elections on 21 April 2007; that of August 21 admitted the voters register used in the same election, while that of 20 July affirmed the tribunal’s jurisdiction to entertain the petition.
Presiding judge, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, who granted the application, also dismissed the objection of Abubakar that it was an abuse of the court process. Justice Bulkachuwa held that the merits in Mark’s application cannot be ignored. The judge said if Mark is denied the opportunity to prove his case against the respondent, Usman Abubakar, the court’s effort in championing the cause of justice would have been defeated. Granting Mark extension of time and leave to add 13 grounds of appeal, she also dismissed the interlocutory ruling of the tribunal granting itself the jurisdiction to entertain the petition against the Senate president.
In the original and amended appeal, the Senate president will be challenging the alleged questionable competence and lack of jurisdiction on the part of the Tribunal as well as its verdict on the ground that the petitioner did not prove the grave allegations of electoral malpractices and/or irregularities, crime, thuggery and violent disruption of election and the deprivation of the voters’ rights to vote, which are criminal offences covered in the Electoral Act 2006.
In a bid to revalidate his mandate, Mark will also be relying on the controversy that surrounded the alterations of the exhibits tendered by the petitioner. The Tribunal, according to Mark, ignored a motion, with a supporting affidavit, which alleged that exhibits tendered in the petition had been tampered with in the tribunal’s custody.
Usman Abubakar was recently arraigned alongside one Benjamin Obe before a Makurdi Chief Magistrate Court for falsification and abetment of falsification of INEC result forms EC8E series. But according to the prosecution, led by DSP Raphael Nkem, Abubakar had denied ever knowing the second accused during police investigation. Will Mark wriggle his way out of this electoral quagmire?
– Reported by Desmond Utomwen.
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OLADELE WALIU KAYODE
26 June 2008 14:57Our judiciary arm of government has proved beyond resonable thout that they are here to protect the interest of ordinary nigerian who has no money,power and influence to fight for himself.Let keep our trust in them and follow the events as they unfold,
thanks
adesoji bolaji
30 June 2008 11:50This Usman Abubakar is nothing but a spoiler who has nothing to offer in the Senate. The present Senate President has been performing creditably since he took over the leadership of the Senate. From all indication it clear that the former Governor of Benue State and Abubakar Atiku are behind him to scuttle the ambition of the Senante President but God will the Judges the wisdom, knowledge and understanding for them to declare David Mark the right winner.