There is palpable tension in Akwa Ibom as the Supreme Court is expected to
deliver final judgment on the governorship election petition between the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Mr. Udom Emmanuel and his All
Progressives Congress (APC) opponent, Mr. Umana Okon Umana, today.
In an earlier ruling, the Election Petitions Tribunal,
which relocated from Uyo to Abuja, nullified the governorship election in 18
out of the 31 local government areas leaving 13 where Emmanuel would still have
had 495,204 valid votes as against Umana’s 37, 572 were the status quo
maintained.
But both parties, not satisfied with the tribunal
judgement, headed to the Court of Appeal in Abuja. While the PDP wanted a
reversal to status quo ante, the APC wanted total nullification to set the tone
for a fresh election in all local government areas.
On December 18, 2015, the Court of Appeal granted the
APC’s wish when it nullified the April 11, 2015 election and ordered a rerun.
The PDP kicked against the ruling and headed to the
Supreme Court.
Since the PDP moved to the Supreme Court, there have
been diverse pre-emptive expressions of faith in the integrity of the court to
deliver judgment that would be favourable to the party concerned.
Former national chairman of the defunct All Nigerian
Peoples Party (ANPP), now BoT member of APC, Chief Don Etiebet, told Daily
Sun that, “the Supreme Court would look at the fact of the judgment of the
Appeal Court; and I know everything was quite legalistic, constitutional and up
to the point; no ambiguity whatsoever.
Also former chairman of the House of Representatives
Committee on Information, who represented Eket
Federal Constituency, Mr. Eseme Eyiboh, told Daily Sun he believed the
Supreme Court would toe the line of the Court of Appeal: “I expect justice. And
the justice of it is that they will affirm the judgment of the Court of Appeal.
I am not pre-empting it but it is because of the justice of it.”
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