2 weeks Ago By Ejikeme Omenazu
Comrade Aluh Moses Odeh, Labour Party’s (LP) councillorship candidate for Ugbokolo Ward, has said that his party is heading for appeal to reclaim its stolen mandate. In a statement made available to Sunday Independent, Odeh accused the Benue State Election Petition Tribunal of double standards. Odeh, in his statement in response to the judgment of the Benue State Local Government Election Petition Tribunal, said the panel rewarded a party which was in flagrant disobedience to court order.
Odeh said: “The Benue State Election Petition Tribunal in its judgment declared that Benue State Independent Electoral Commission (BSIEC) was an interloper for blatantly refusing to recognise the Comr. Austin Agada-led authentic faction of All Progressives Congress (APC) loyal to Secretary of the Government of the Federation (SGF), Sen. Dr.
George Akume, “The tribunal recognised the illegal Caretaker Committee loyal to Gov. Alia that flagrantly disobeyed court order, even as it rewarded both the ‘illegal’ Caretaker Committee faction loyal to Gov. Alia with 14 of the 23 Local Government Areas in the state.
” Odeh referred to judgments of two courts in the case of Zamfara State All Progressive Congress (APC) in 2019 with similar case and Plateau State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2023 where the court sacked APC and ordered INEC to issue the second runner PDP certificate of return which produced Matawalle as Governor then and in Plateau State PDP the Court ordered for a rerun and banished PDP from the rerun. He asked: “Why is Benue State Local Government Election Petition Tribunal rewarding flagrant disobedience to Court order? “The Comr. Austin Agada’s camp loyal to the SGF that never participated in the election or screened by the electoral body, BSIEC, was rewarded with nine of the 23 LGAs to mean the tribunal must have implemented what he termed “the original move in APC to share the 23 Local Government Area LGA between Gov.
Alia and his erstwhile godfather, Sen. George Akume, on whose back he rode to power to appease their ego. Odeh asked further, “Does it mean a political party can field two candidates for one elective position in one election simultaneously?” He wondered why the tribunal refused to declare the Labour Party the winner, being the next party with the highest votes as it happened in the past, stressing that the tribunal was an interloper.
He stressed that the action puts the nation’s democracy in grave danger, as it laid a bad foundation for the younger generations and an insult to the Judiciary, if not dismissed. According to him, “Something good should be done urgently to return power to the Labour Party that has the highest votes. “It is crystal clear that All Progressive Congress (APC) has no candidate and did not participate in the election, and should not benefit from it.
“Labour Party, with the highest votes, should be declared winner without delay, since all the 299 LP candidates, both Chairmanship and Councilorship, are indigenes and people of Benue State that have what it takes to change the narrative in our Local Government Area.” According to him, it was most shameful that the APC candidate that contested against me did not meet the electoral requirements to stand for the election as he had never paid tax for once in all his life. “However, the tribunal dismissed my case on the ground of technicality despite my plea that I should not be visited with the wrath of the tribunal as a result of the failure of my lawyer, just to reward APC’s disobedience to court order in their judgment.
“Benue State is not a booty to be shared among warring parties. Let the right thing be done at the right time to save our democracy. “Therefore, I am calling on people of good conscience in the court of public opinion, to rise across board in defense of the Labour Party in Benue State in the face of this miscarriage of justice perpetuated by the Benue State Election Petition Tribunal to reclaim our stolen mandate.
“The good news is that the Chairman of the Appeal Court JSC. Theresa Igoche, is the same Justice that issued the court order that was disobeyed by APC. “Will she uphold disobedience to the court order she issued as decided by the tribunal, or dismiss all decisions of the tribunal and declare Labour Party as winner, being the party with the highest votes, to restore obedience to court order and sanctity of our democratic processes?”.
