NO matter the claim in some quarters, especially within the victorious PDP that the 2011 elections were generally free, fair and credible, moves are set in motion to challenge some of the results at post-election tribunals by aggrieved parties and candidates.The PDP was declared winner of all the contested positions and seats at the state and national levels, positions in which about 20 political parties fielded candidates.Already, 13 petitions challenging the National Assembly election have been filed at the state election tribunal that will on Tuesday begin its inaugural sitting in Umuahia, the state capital.Five of the petitions are on senatorial elections, while eight are challenging elections into the House of Representatives.When the results of the elections were announced, the PDP described them as credible, and reflecting the true decision of the electorate. But those who lost fumed in anger, rejecting the results instantly, and vowing to challenge them in court.The PPA, APGA, ACN, Labour, CPC and other parties hinged their rejection of the results on the argument that there was no election in Abia State; that what took place was mere allocation of votes amid intimidation by the PDP and security agencies.Some election monitors/observers commented on the elections differently. The Nigerian Christian Graduate Fellowship said the National Assembly election featured patterns of rigging in some wards/areas, and indicated willingness to give evidence at the election tribunal if invited.Disagreeing with this group, the Abia State Coalition of Election Observers, led by Dr. Okorochukwu CFine, said security agencies, INEC and other polling officials in the over 1,800 polling units where they observed the elections, performed their work in such a way that the exercise was smooth and devoid of violence and malpractice.Some well-meaning Abia citizens and groups have urged those who lost elections to endure and accept theresults as their contribution to nation building and growth of democracy. IT is noted that election petitions take time to deliver justice. Hence, commenting, the immediate past state Attorney General and Justice Commissioner, Chief Okey Amaechi, prays the tribunals to strive to deliver within a reasonable time, bearing in mind that past tribunals took very long to resolve petitions.He said: If I had a direct input to the procedure to be adopted by the incoming tribunals, I would suggest a summary procedure, which is getting the contending parties to identify, at the earliest opportunity, the issues in contention.Having done so, the court will now direct each party to state in brief his/her case, confined to the identified issues only. And then from the submissions of both parties, the court/tribunal can, from that moment, take its decision on summary judgment.According to him, tested judges with integrity and good knowledge of the law at the tribunal would handle these petitions and dispose them expeditiously, if counsel de-emphasize technicalities.Similarly, Adizua Okorafor, who appeared as counsel for some petitioners and respondents in 2007, said that from the public point of view, the electorate would generally expect to see that justice is done and their votes count.He sees tribunals as an opportunity for lawyers to actively participate in a special way in the countrys political and democratic development, and charges petitioners to explore the judicial redress open to them and eschew any form of political violence.
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