Tribunal upheld Sen. Nwaoboshi election,dismissed Uboh petition

The National and State Assemblies Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Asaba ,the Delta State capital on Saturday upheld the election of Senator Peter Nwaoboshi representing the Delta North Senatorial District at Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The tribunal in a unanimous decision dismissed the petition filed by Doris Uboh of the All Progressive Congress (APC), for being statute barred and lacking in merit .

Delivering the judgment, the Chairman of the three man panel Justice E.I. Ngene held that there was merit in objection raised by the respondent Senator Nwaoboshi who had challenged the competence of the petition and jurisdiction of the tribunal to entertain the petition having been filed out the time provided for by the electoral Act.

Although, Uboh’s petition was struck out based on the preliminary objection raised by Senator Nwaoboshi , the tribunal went further to hear it on merit.

Justice Ngene said that haven heard petition on merit the tribunal found that none of the allegations of malpractices by the petitioner was substantiated or proved beyond any reasonable doubt.

The tribunal also found that the petition was vague , ambiguous and imprecise and thus lacks merit.

Doris Uboh who scored about 30,000 votes had petition the tribunal and challenged the victory of Senator Peter Nwaoboshi of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who polled over 180,000 votes at the election held on February 23, 2019.