Suleiman Anyalewechi, Aba
The senatorial flagbearer of the Labour Party, LP, at the February 25 National Assembly Polls, Engr. Chinedu Onyeizu has said that the decision of the Election Petition Tribunal to quash his case against the declaration of the former Senate Minority Leader, Sen Enyinnaya Abaribe candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, winner of the Abia South senatorial seat did not come to him as a shock, noting that it only confirmed his earlier fears that he would not get justice going by the composition of the tribunal.
NewsCritic online reports that the three-man Abia State Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Umuahia the state capital had last week in a unanimous ruling quashed Onyeizu’s petition challenging Sen Abaribe’s electoral victory on technical grounds.
In an interactive session with the press after the tribunal ruling, Engr Onyeizu noted that before the commencement of trials, he had during his address expressed reservations on the ability of the tribunal to be fair and just, in the face of the widely known personal affinity between the chairman of the tribunal Justice Adeyinka Adebisi and sen Abaribe, adding that he had requested for the case to be re- assigned but his request was turned down.
The LP candidate said the Justice Adebisi was among the panel members that equally gave victory to the same Sen Abaribe in 2019, in his case with Chief Chris Nkwonta, noting that even Sen Abaribe had before the tribunal ruling been bragging about his affinity with Justice Adebisi.
“Before the tribunal started sitting, I told the members that I didn’t have confidence in the tribunal and that in the spirit of fairness and justice my petition should be transferred to another panel. I made it clear that with Justice Adeyinka Adebisi, a known ally of Abaribe as the chairman of the panel, I cannot get fair hearing.
However, the panel ruled and rejected my request on the grounds that granting it will open the floodgates for similar requests which the limited time at its disposal will not permit,” Onyeizu stated.
But the chairman Justice Adebisi, while ruling on the request, also denied having any relationship whatsoever Abaribe, adding that the panel lacks the jurisdiction to grant such a request.
Engr Onyeizu, however, has assured his supporters of his readiness to explore the remaining judicial layers in the land to reclaim his mandate.
