Daily Independent (Lagos)
Emmanuel Nzomiwu
2 July 2009
Enugu — Court of Appeal, Enugu Division, has reaffirmed the election of Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the Senator representing Enugu West District at the National Assembly.
In a unanimous judgment, the Appellate Court dismissed an appeal filed by the Action Congress (AC) candidate, Uzo Onyeama, challenging the decision of the lower tribunal, which earlier affirmed Ekweremadu as duly elected on April 21, 2007, to represent Enugu West in the Senate.
Reading the lead judgment, Justice A. Sanusi, stated that it was wrong of the appellant to say that the tribunal was wrong in shifting the onus to her to prove allegations of massive irregularities that characterised the election.
Sanusi said that the onus of proof lies on the person who asserts, stressing that it was wrong of the appellant to say that because her assertions are on the negative, the tribunal should have shifted the onus to the respondents to prove that there were no irregularities and that the election followed due process.
He insisted that the duty is on the petitioner (Onyeama) to prove her case and not the respondents, pointing out that she admitted that there was a result on which the 1st respondent (Ekweremadu) was declared, but said there was a whole lot of reasons for her to doubt the authenticity of the result.
"The burden is on her to prove. The respondents don't need to tender any evidence to rebut. It is the petitioner that should prove. She said that the election was marred by stuffing of ballot papers.
"Carting of ballot boxes, thuggery and that the election was not conducted according to Electoral law. But the 1st to 292 respondents filed rebuttals saying that it is not true and that election was conducted according to Electoral Act.
"Corrupt practices is criminal in nature and for the petitioner to prove her case, it must be beyond reasonable doubt. She must prove that the first respondent aided and abetted and benefitted from it. It is not to be proved by balance of probability but beyond reasonable doubt," Sanusi stated.
He noted that even at that, the petitioner did not include her statement of oath, denying her the opportunity to prove her case, adding that she did not prove the criminal allegations.
Sanusi made it clear that since Onyeama has not succeeded in shifting the burden of proof, her petition cannot succeed and has failed and hereby dismissed.
A cost of N30,000 was awarded against the appellant in favour of the respondents.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2009 Daily Independent. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
