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From Godwin Tsa, Abuja
The Abuja division of the Court of Appeal on Monday postponed till further notice, its judgment on the appeal filed by Comrade Daniel Onjeh, the All Progressives Congress(APC) Senatorial Candidate for Benue South, challenging the judgment of the election petition tribunal which upheld INEC’s declaration of Sen. Abba Moro of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) as the winner of the February 25, 2023 Senatorial election held in Benue South.
The development has been communicated counsel to parties involved in the appeal which is being adjudicated by a three-member panel comprising Justices Aja Onyekachi Otisi; Abimbola Osarugue- Obasaki Adejumo and Abubakar Muazu Lamido.
The appellate court had on October 16, reserved the appeal for judgment after counsel to partied adopted their arguments for and against the appeal.
Although judgment was scheduled for Monday October 30th , it has now been shiffted to a day to be communicated to parties.
Meanwhile, by the provisions of section 285 (7) of the 1999 Constitution, the Court of Appeal has until November 9, 2023, to deliver judgment on the matter. The section reads: “An appeal from a decision of the election tribunal or court shall be heard and disposed of within 60 days from the date of the delivery of the judgement.”
Comrade Onjeh is praying for the Court of Appeal to declare him the true winner of the Benue South 2023 Senatorial Election on the ground that the first respondent in the matter, Sen. Abba Moro, was not qualified to contest the election in the first instance, having presented a forged birth certificate to INEC.
He is therefore asking the court to declare all the votes allotted to Sen. Moro in the election as wasted votes, and accordingly declare him – being the first runner-up – the true winner of the election.
Onjeh is equally challenging the outcome of the election on the grounds of noncompliance with the Electoral Act 2022 (As Amended) as well as on irregularities, amongst others. He is therefore asking the court to cancel all the unlawful votes allotted to Abbo Moro occasioned by noncompliance and irregularities and to re-tabulate the results of the last Benue South senatorial election and declare him the true winner, having polled the highest number of valid votes.
Comrade Onjeh, who formerly served as Chairman of the Governing Board of PRODA, Enugu, had earlier filed a four-ground notice of appeal at the Court of Appeal, Makurdi division of the court following his disenchantment with the ruling of the election petitions tribunal, which upheld the declaration of Sen. Moro as the winner of the Benue South 2023 Senatorial Election.
But after all the briefs of argument by the lawyers of both the appellants and the respondents had been exchanged, the matter was transferred to the Court of Appeal, Abuja on the directives of the President of the court, Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem.
