Samuel Jacob Ikpatt V. Ubong Okon Iyoho & Anor (1999)

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OBADINA, J.C.A. 

This is an appeal against the judgment of the Local Government Election Petition Tribunal of Akwa Ibom State, holden at Uyo, delivered on the 16th of February, 1999, in favour of the 1st respondent.

On the 5th December, 1998, the appellant contested the Local Government Council election for the office of Chairman, Nsit Ibom Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State. He contested the election on the platform of the All Peoples Party (APP). The 1st respondent also contested the election to the same office of Chairman, Nsit Ibom Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

At the conclusion of the election, the 1st respondent won and was declared winner of the said election with (12,189) votes to the petitioner’s (7,518) votes.

The appellant was dissatisfied with the result of the election. He then presented an election petition before the Local Government Election Petition Tribunal in Akwa Ibom sitting at Uyo.

In the petition, the appellant alleged that the election was characterised by various forms of electoral malpractice, in that, while elections did not hold in twenty-seven (27) of the seventy (70) polling stations in the local government area as a result of various forms of violence, seizure of ballot boxes and other polling materials, the various presiding officers and ward returning officers allocated votes for the parties to the contest and gave most of the votes to the benefit of the 1st respondent which votes so illegally contrived bloated the scores of the said 1st respondent and created the situation whereby the said 1st respondent was declared to have scored a majority of the votes cast at the election. He then prayed the tribunal as follows:-

“That it be determined that the 1st respondent was not duly elected by a majority of lawful and valid votes cast at the election and that the petitioner won the election aforesaid having scored a majority of the lawful and valid votes cast at the election and further had 25% of the votes cast in at least 66% of the wards in Nsit Ibom Local Government Area and ought to have been returned.”

The respondents filed replies to the petition and denied the allegations contained in the petition.

At the hearing of the petition before the tribunal, the appellant called evidence and the respondents also called evidence.

The tribunal in a reasoned judgment dated 16th February, 1999, dismissed the petition. Being dissatisfied with the decision of the tribunal, the appellant has appealed to this court.

He filed one original and with the leave of the court, three (3) additional grounds of appeal with particulars as follows:

Briefs of argument were filed and exchanged by the parties.

Based on the four (4) grounds of appeal, the appellant formulated four (4) issues for the determination of the appeal. The issues read as follows:

“(1) Whether the tribunal properly considered the case of the petitioner and against the case of the respondents properly assessed the evidence led at the trial.