Tribunal Upholds Election Of Benue State Deputy Speaker

The National/State Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal in Makurdi, has upheld the election of Deputy Speaker, Benue House of Assembly, Mrs Lami Danladi.

Delivering the judgment on Thursday, Chairman of the panel, Justice Ory’zik Ikeorha, said the petitioners, Mrs Agnes Uloko and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, failed to prove their case.

Ikeorha said the petitioners failed to prove their case of certificate forgery as well as the allegation that Danladi was not a member of the APC before contesting for the election.

She said the petitioners case was too weak too establish forgery case against the respondent.

The Court held that the evidence before them showed that the certificate tendered by the respondent looked genuine.

“The reliefs sought are hereby refused, the petition stands dismissed in entirety,” she said.

Recalk that Uloko and PDP had dragged Danladi, APC and INEC before the tribunal challenging his victory and declaration by INEC.

The petitioners alleged that the respondent does not possess the requisite qualification to contest the March 18 Assembly election and was not a member of the APC as of the time of the election.

The petitioner also prayed the court to disqualify the respondent and declare her the winner of the election on the basis of forgery.

However, the respondent countered the petitioners prayers insisting that she possessed the required qualifications to contest the election and tendered relevant documents.

She said the allegations of the petitioners were mere hearsay and challenged them to prove their case.

NAN/Confidence Okwuchi