AlhajiUmani:
APC'S ATTACK ON TRIBUNAL CHAIRMAN IS A RAPE ON JUDICIARY - TME

A famous group in Akwa Ibom State, the Mandate Eyes (TME) has described the recent blackmail attack on the chairman of the election petition tribunal in the state Justice Jennifer Mbalamen Ijohor by the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and the call for her removal as a rape on the judiciary and an attempt to bring the judiciary into disrepute.

The group said that it is baseless and irresponsible, the alleged affinity of the tribunal chairman with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state in their failed attempt to arm twist the tribunal for favourable judgement.

In a statement issued by the group in Uyo and signed by it's Coordinator, Mr Ernest Akpan and Secretary, Mr Joseph Okon and made available to journalists, the group particularly mentioned that attitude of the APC chairman, Ini Okopido smacks a drowning search of any available straw to clutch in an make mischief.

The group further condemned in strong terms, the APC launch of a median blackmail and campaign of calumny against the tribunal chairman and some members of the panel.

The TME maintained that the latest attack on the tribunal chairman and members of the panel in Akwa Ibom is obviously the last resort by the APC to hoodwink the tribunal and members of the public having seen their imminent defeat at the tribunal as their cases lacks substance, hence they are dead on arrival.

TME wondered where the chairman of the tribunal and members of the panel should be blame here when actually, APC had dead cases before the tribunal like in most cases, the petitions were even filed after the expiration of the allotted 21 days provided by the law.

The statement reads in part, "the inability of the APC to file applications for pre-hearing within the stipulated 7 days, in most their cases, after the reply by the respondents is certainly not the fault of any of the tribunal judges. In most cases, the petitions were even filed after the expiration of the allotted 21 days provided by the law, so did it require any further arguments to clearly affirm that those cases were dead on arrival and were only awaiting final mass burial?
That explains the series of defeats the party has so far suffered in the respective national and state assembly elections petitions so far thrown out for want of diligent prosecution.

Another trend which Okopido has failed to tell the public is that only one or two persons were possibly contracted to manufacture witnesses and construct statements for them. In most cases, witnesses have come to the dock and disown statements purportedly signed by them. For example, on Saturday, a witness in the matter involving the Esit Eket/Ibeno state constituency on sighting the statement 'he wrote', denounced it and was discharged from the dock without being allowed for cross examination. Another witness last Thursday, during the governorship petition tribunal, showed a voter's card with a name different from the one that signed the witness statement. Outside these discrepancies, the entire charade have been a sham, with almost the same statement repeated for all the witnesses. Is that also the fault of any member of the tribunal panel"?

The statement further reads, "the candidates of the party have shown little or no interest in their respective cases, simple logistics needed are no longer available. This could only be applicable in a situation when they already know that their cases are possibly lacking in merit. Last week, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC had to come out to beg the petitioners to come and get the election materials they had applied for, to use in prosecuting their case, which required little money for photocopies to be produced. Is this also the fault of the tribunal judges? Why are they still seeking amendments of their petitions, to plead for new witnesses when they have not even used a third of those they earlier penciled down?

What rulings would APC have expected any other judge, even if such a judge was sent from the Hague, given the poor foundation they have laid for their cases? We expected to listen to Okopido criticizing, backed with substance instead of whipping sentiments and crying wolf when there is none. He should desist from continuous vilification and intimidation of the tribunals. Does he and his band of losers think that Their lordships will depend on millions of tears and petitions in the media, to base their judgements, as opposed to the available facts before the tribunals?

From the vitriolic outburst by Okopido and his party, we see nothing other than a meaningless attack on the judiciary, and a breach of the fundamental principle of respect to the sanctity of the judiciary. Following from their previous ploy to relocate the tribunal to Abuja, comes this latest scheme to blackmail and coerce the judges.

It is on the strength of these that we call on the police to immediately arrest Ini Okopido and charge him to court for sub judice, sedition, defamation and hate speech. We also call for the immediate arrest of all those involved in the publication of these seditious materials, which tend to instigate some disgruntled elements against certain members of the judiciary.

We recall that this is the same pattern of mischief which they earlier instigated against the state INEC Commissioner, Mike Igini, despite the widely being commended for midwiving the most credible poll ever conducted in the state. We finally call on the respective elections petition tribunal panels sitting in Uyo, to remain focused and unperturbed in the discharge of their constitutional responsibilities, and to ignore the ranting and ramblings by the habitual noise makers".