The Akwa Ibom electoral petition tribunal has upheld Umo Eno’s election as the governor of the state.
The tribunal’s decision, delivered on Friday, dismissed the petition filed by Albert Bassey and his party, the Young Progressives Party (YPP), challenging the election of Governor Umo Eno.
Tribunal’s unanimous judgment
The unanimous judgment, read by Adekunle Adeleye, who led the panel, emphasized that the issue of Governor Eno’s qualification had already been settled by the Supreme Court.
The tribunal further held that the petitioners lacked the standing to challenge the manner in which the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) conducted its primaries to select a candidate.
Regarding the claim that Governor Eno had submitted a forged WAEC certificate, the tribunal ruled that this allegation was not substantiated.
The tribunal noted that the WAEC official summoned as a witness had authenticated the certificates in question.
The court stated, “WAEC did not disavow the 1981 and 1983 WAEC certificates. Without an official disclaimer from the issuing authority, these certificates remain valid.”
The tribunal also addressed the issue of how a person’s name is arranged on a document, asserting that there is no legislation in Nigeria specifying a particular order for arranging names on official documents.