Aspirant Drags Speaker To Election Tribunal

PDP Stalwart Seeks Ten-year Tenure For INEC ChairCITING breach of the 2010 Electoral Act, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) candidate for Obudu/Obanliku/Bekwarra Federal Constituency of Cross River State, Mr. John Odey, has dragged the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Mr. Francis Adah, to the Election Petition Tribunal in Calabar.Adah was declared winner of the April 9 election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to represent the constituency in the House of Representatives.Meanwhile, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) stalwart and the partys senatorial aspirant in the Central Senatorial District of Cross River State, Chief Mike Okomiso, has advocated a ten-year tenure for the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).Odey in the petition with serial number EPT/CR/NA/8/2011, alleged that the election was fraught with malpractices and intimidation, contrary to the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2010, adding that  The foundation for the massive rigging of election in Cross River State was laid when appointees of government and senior civil servants were threatened with dismissal unless they delivered electoral victories in their wards and constituencies.He said: In most polling units and wards, votes were allocated without the conduct of election as provided by the Electoral Act and the guidelines issued by the 2nd Respondent (INEC).In view of the allegations, the petitioner prayed the tribunal to declare the election invalid by reason of corrupt practices and/or non compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2010, and that the 1st respondent (Adah) was not elected or returned, and his declaration as winner of the election is void and should accordingly be nullified.Advocating a ten-year tenure for the seat of INEC chairman, Okomiso, who lost out in the partys primaries told The Guardian in an interview that changing the INEC helmsman twice in a decade gives room for dislocations, which the electoral body has suffered in the recent past.He said: I am of the opinion that the tenure of the INEC chairman should be 10-year, and a chairman, who has shown that he knows what he is doing, should be able to do a second term in office all things being equal. It is only through having sustained policies that are time-tested that we can start talking about having elections that are near perfect in 2015.
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