By Tony Edike

ENUGU – THE Court of Appeal sitting in Enugu, yesterday, ordered the setting up of a new Election Petition Tribunal to hear petitions arising from the February 2010 gubernatorial elections in Anambra State.

The court asked the  President of the Court, Justice Ayo Salami, to constitute a fresh panel to  retry the petition of the candidate of Action Congress of Nigeria in the February 6 governorship election in Anambra State, Dr Chris Ngige.

Ngige had filed a petition challenging the declaration of Mr. Peter Obi of All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, as the winner of last year’s governorship election in the state by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

The court also upheld the judgment of the lower tribunal which dismissed “for lacking in merit”, the petitions of candidates of the National Solidarity Democratic Party, NSDP, Victor Anibata, and  deputy governorship candidate of Hope Democratic Party, HDP, Chief Mike Okoye.

Justices in the case are: Justice Agbo, Justice K. H. Muhtar, Justice Mojid Owoade and Justice Ignatius Agube. The  appeal was brought before them by Governor Peter Obi who prayed that Justice Pius Danmulak’s panel should continue hearing petitions that arose from the election.

In a lead judgment read by Justice Amina Augie and supported by all the judges, the court declared that the appeal was incompetent and dismissed it for lack of merit.

The court stated that the appeal was totally uncalled for because the tribunal’s decision to step aside, following protest by election petitioners, could not be faulted because justice was rooted in confidence of the litigants in a judge or a court.

Justice Augie explained that the court would not order the tribunal to go back to Anambra Election petition matters and sustained the ruling of the tribunal of September 5, 2010, as it was  in the interest of justice for the panel to decline further adjudication in the case because the petitioners had lost confidence in the impartiality of the tribunal to handle their matters.