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| Dr Davies Etta and Lady Justice |
13 September 2019
The lawmaker representing Abi State Constituency at the 9th Cross River State House of Assembly Dr Davies Etta, Thursday charged his numerous followers to be calm in the face of the elections petition tribunal judgment of Justice A. A. Babawale which set aside his victory at the polls during the 2019 general elections calling for a rerun in 15 polling units. He further disclosed that he was not perturbed by the judgement as he was confident of victory NegroidHaven has garnered.
Etta who observed that he still has faith in the Nigerian judicial system said that he still has a latitude of time to forward his reaction to the judgement. He called on the constituents who are his supporters yo expect a reaction within this period as he consults with his legal team.
His words, ‘As a lawmaker, I retain implicit faith in the Nigerian judiciary system. I am also not unaware of the various options available to me. Upon a quick review of those options with my lawyers and my party, I shall in due course relay to you the decision reached at.
‘For the time beign, as we work towards achieving this, I urge all my teeming supporters, constituents and party faithfuls not to be discouraged but remain calm. God is indeed on our side and victory is His.
‘The tribunal has done its part as a legally recognized tribunal set up by government and saddled with the responsibility of looking into and deciding on electoral petitions brought beofe it.
‘I have received several calls and messages from different quarters expressing overwhelming solidarity with me and my party, the People’s Democratic Party. Therefore, I want to use this medium to call on my constituents across party lines, especially my supporters to remain calm, and not loss hope as God is the ultimate giver of power. We are not discouraged with the tribunal’s judgment’, the statement reads.
According to a source close to development, Dr Etta is reported to have said that the 15 polling units which the tribunal asked for a rerun to be conducted are in familiar terrains and as such he is not scared even if a rerun is the last option available for him to defend his mandate. He also explained that following the results upheld by the tribunal as announced by INEC, he still has an outstanding approximated 5000 votes ahead of his opponent and that the total number of registered voters in the 15 polling units canceled is less than 12,000 and those 15 polling unit beign PDP controlled units, he is double sure of victory should a rerun be conducted.
The source informed that, although elections didn’t take place in those polling units under dispute due to electoral voilence and the electoral officers had made an official reports to that effect, but wondered why those reports were not documented. Stating that this was what gave room for the tribunal to capitalize on in calling for a rerun in those affected polling units.
Recall that the Election Petition Tribunal headed by Justice A. A. Babawale had in its ruling in Calabar, declared the election of Dr. Davies Etta of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, null and void while ruling in a petition by Iwara Inah, the All Progressives Congress, APC candidate, alleging electoral malpractices, noncompliance with the 2010 electoral guidelines by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, while conducting the election on March 9, 2019.
She said votes in fifteen polling units numbering ten thousand four hundred votes which were cancelled could decide if victory could go one way or the other among the candidates.
Justice Babanwale ordered a rerun to be conducted in the fifteen polling units within ninety days and called for the withdrawal of the Certificate of Return given to the PDP candidate.
