Appeal Court upholds Rep's election

IN a unanimous verdict, the Appeal Court in Calabar has upheld the election of Mrs. Nkoyo Toyo, the member representing Calabar/Odukpani Federal Constituency in the National Assembly. The appeal by the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN's) candidate, Mr. Eyo Ekpo, rose from the decision of the tribunal, which had dismissed his petition. What he sought at the lower tribunal was that the election be nullified for non-compliance with the provision of the Electoral Act and he (Ekpo) be declared winner on a majority of lawful votes. Ekpo, who was represented by his counsel, Mr. Ballantyne Bassey, formulated three issues, saying that the respondent (Toyo), was not qualified to run the election, as according to him, she was not properly nominated by her party. Secondly, he said he was denied fair hearing when, according to him, his witnesses were not allowed to testify and were not found competent. The third issue he raised was that the burden of proving irregularity or non-compliance in election petition ought to rest on the respondent and not him, the petitioner. The tribunal did not see any evidence to affirm his claim, so his case was dismissed. In the unanimous judgment read by Justice Joseph Tur,the Appeal Court rejected his appeal, saying in all the grounds, he (Ekpo) failed to prove or substantiate any of these grounds upon which he predicated his appeal. The court said particularly on the issue of the non-qualification of the first respondent (Toyo), that it found he was contradicting himself because in part of his petition, he affirmed that the first respondent, Toyo, was sponsored by the party (PDP) and in another portion, he said she was not sponsored by the party.
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