By Tom Moses

Akwa Ibom State governor, Mr. Udom Emmanuel, weekend scaled the first hurdle in the Elections Petitions Tribunal as Justice A. S. Umar struck out the petition filed by the candidate of Labour Party, Senator Helen Esuene, seeking the nullification of his election as governor of the state. The presiding judge struck out Esuene’s petition on the ground of incompetence.

Mr. Paul Usoro (SAN), counsel to the Akwa Ibom State governor, had challenged the competence of the Labour Party candidate’s petition on the grounds that Exhibit A, the purported Certified True Copy of the Signature page of the petition attached to the petitioners’ counter affidavit to the motion, was not the Certified True Copy and, therefore, failed to satisfy the requirements of Sections 104 and 105 of the Evidence Act.

Usoro also held that the petition in the record of the Tribunal, did not disclose the signatory thereof as none of the names of the counsel listed therein was ticked to indicate who signed the petition.

He also contended that any attempt by the Tribunal to carry out an investigation in order to discover the signatories would be tantamount to converting the Tribunal into a forensic laboratory. The Judges unanimously agreed with the counsel to Mr. Udom Emmanuel on all the grounds and, therefore, struck out the petition on grounds of incompetence.