Eti-Osa Federal Constituency seat: Tribunal sacks LP’s Atta, orders rerun

The National Assembly Elections Petition Tribunal sitting at the Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS) in Lagos State has declared as inconclusive the election that produced Thaddeus Atta of the Labour Party (LP) as the elected representative for Eti-Osa Federal Constituency.

It ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to withdraw the Certificate of Return issued to Atta.

It also ordered INEC to conduct a supplementary election within 90 days in 33 polling units where it found that elections did not hold.

The decision followed two petitions challenging the outcome of the February 25 election, instituted by Olubankole Wellington popularly known as Banky W of the People’s Democratic party (PDP), as well as Babajide Obanikoro of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who both contested, along with Mr Atta to represent the constituency during the February 25 election.

INEC declared Mr Atta the winner with 24,075 votes, over Mr Wellington who polled 18,666 votes, followed by Mr Obanikoro, who scored 16,901 votes.

In Disputing INEC’s declaration, the petitioners in their separate petitions had raised several grounds including that Mr Attah was at the time of the election not qualified to contest the elections as he was not a member of the LP and was not sponsored by the party.

Their counsel, Kemi Pinheiro (SAN) and Osasu Isibor contended that there were no elections conducted in about 33 Polling Units where at least 20,295 people who had their permanent voter cards did not vote, and that the number of those people was more than the margin of between the declared winner and them.

The rival petitioners sought separate but identical reliefs, urging the tribunal to direct the 1st Respondent (INEC) to withdraw the certificate of Return issued to the 2nd Respondent (Mr Attah).

They also sought an order directing INEC to conduct supplementary elections in the polling units in Eti-Osa Federal Constituency where elections were not held and/or the results were cancelled due to corrupt practices or irregularities.

The tribunal having found merits in both petitions ordered that the election be declared inconclusive, and that a supplementary election should be conducted In all the polling units within Eti-Osa Constituency where elections did not hold.

There are yet no indications that Mr Atta of the Labour Party has filed an appeal against the tribunal’s judgment.

Under Section 138(1) and (2) of the Electoral Act 2022, he is entitled to file an appeal within 21 days from the day of the Tribunal’s decision.

Meanwhile, Mr Obanikoro’s counsel, Osasu Isibor, told TVC News that the petitioner who is seeking a second term as a member of the House of Representatives is considering filing a cross-appeal, if the LP candidate files an appeal.

Mr Isibor said, “The tribunal held that issues of nomination of a candidate by a political party raised by a member of another party are pre-election matters. But, our point is that this is an issue of constitutional qualification, not nomination, as he (Atta) wasn’t qualified to partake in the election on the ground that his name isn’t in the register of members of the party. We are considering the position taken by the Tribunal and may file a cross appeal on the issue if the respondent files an appeal, even though the tribunal has ordered for a supplementary election to hold.”