INDEPENDENT NATIONAL ELECTORAL COMMISSION (INEC) & ORS. V. HON. IFEANYI IGWE & ORS.

REASONS FOR THE JUDUGMENT PRONOUNCED BY HON. JUSTICE ALI ABUBAKAR BABANDI GUMEL, J.C.A, ON 7TH JANUARY, 2012

On the 7th January, 2012, I dismissed this appeal and indicated then that I would give my reasons for so doing at a future date. I now do so today.

This appeal arose from all the facts and circumstances of Election Petition No. EPT/AN/HA/25/2011 and the judgment of the National Assembly Election Trlbunal, Akwa, Anambra State delivered on 10th November, 2011 in which the Tribunal found for the Petitioner when it held and decided that there was no valid election at Oganiru Primary School Polling Units 005, 006, 007 and 008 and no valid results exist for the said 4 polling units and thereafter proceeded to nullify the election in the 4 units.

INEC, the 3rd Respondent at the Tribunal along with 8 of its officials as Respondents too, were aggrieved and dissatisfied with this decision and appealed to this Court in a notice of appeal dated 28/11/2011 but filed on 30/11/2011. To argue…