REJOINDER: Akwa Ibom(Sic) Tribunal: I Didn’t Win The 2019 Guber Election – Nsima Ekere

We have read your piece on the above subject published on July
27, 2019 with above caption and hence the need to react.

We also observe that same story is syndicated verbatim in many
other media, but because your medium is widely read and patronized
by lawyers and non-lawyers alike, as such, reports of contents
emanating from proceedings of Courts or Tribunals, as in this case
must not be politicized or sensationalized on your platform no
matter how compelling the pressure.

At no time throughout the proceedings of Thursday July 25, 2019
that the Petitioner Mr. Nsima Ekere state that “he did not win” the
Gubernatorial elections of March 9, 2019. What he said is: “My
lord, my contention is that the process that took place in Akwa
Ibom State on the 9th of March was totally at variance with the
provisions of the law, not known to the Electoral Act, to the
guidelines for the elections given by INEC neither the manual for
electoral officers”. And when asked whether no one should be
declared the winner, he emphatically answered, “absolutely”.

Again, it is not true as stated in your report that Mr. Ekere
disregarded “almost all averments in his written statement on
oath”. In the 61 paragraph written deposition, what runs through
almost all paragraphs of his written statement on oath and even
reliefs is the fact that the elections held on March 9, 2019 was
fraught with illegality and corrupt practices. The Petitioner
conceded to have abandoned 7 paragraphs of his Petition since the
facts discovered from INEC after inspection were now inconsistent
with earlier position adopted.

Recall that Mr. Ekere had in an earlier Press conference raise
alarm at the monumental malpractices that were orchestrated in the
elections and went further to declare that from the reports
monitored from the Situation rooms, his Polling agents informed him
that the APC won elections in at least 26 local government areas.
That was the position based on reports from the field. Subsequent
reports and announcement by INEC of course turned out different and
therefore unacceptable, hence Mr. Ekere’s resort to exercising his
constitutional right at the Tribunal.

The Inspection exercise ordered by the Tribunal on April 15,
2019, though serially frustrated by INEC staff in Uyo was a
“revealer of secrets”. Mr. Ekere exercised his right of choice to
rely on the findings from the documents in INEC’s possession rather
than any other for strategic reasons and he has a right to
that!

It is trite that a party can choose to abandon reliefs claimed
if pleaded facts do not support same. A party is enjoined in Law to
align his reliefs with pleadings and urge the Court or Tribunal to
strike out abandoned paragraphs of pleadings.

PW47 (Dr. Amadu Attai – APC Deputy Governorship Candidate) never
said the Party obtained ballot papers as published by you. Indeed
no ballot papers were obtained from INEC. The analysis of materials
at INEC never included ballot papers, not only because they were
not made available, but because they were no longer useful in
maintaining the petition.

The pith of the testimony of Essien Udim DPO was that the
results obtained from the field on March 9, 2019 which he escorted
to Uyo and obtained copies for himself were different from that
which was tendered by INEC. He maintained that the election was
free and fair and wondered how the results changed overnight. This
testimony accords with that of the Returning Officer for Essien
Udim Dr. Williams who said he was instructed by Mr. Mike Igini (the
Resident Electoral Commissioner) to alter the figures earlier
obtained in the field.

In answer to the question, Mr. Ekere specifically mentioned that
INEC’s Returning Officer (RO) for his local government (Ikot Abasi)
was a member of the PDP who was also a Chairmanship aspirant in the
last Local Government elections in the State. It is no longer news
that Dr. Augustine Umoh was the RO for Ikot Abasi and was also a
Chairmanship aspirant on the platform of the PDP from Ikono.

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