Candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC for Delta South Senatorial district in the 2019 general election, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan, has picked holes in the Election Petition Tribunal ruling which nullified the victory of Senator James Manager in the February 23, National Assembly polls.
He insisted that he won the election. The immediate past Governor of the state reiterated his resolve to turn his attention to the Appeal Court to claim his mandate.
The Justice C.O Onyeaba-led Delta South Senatorial Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Asaba had in its judgement established that there was substantial non-compliance with INEC electoral guidelines in some parts of Delta South Senatorial District.
He also established in his judgement that there was connivance among security agencies, staff of INEC and agents of the People’s Democratic Party to massively cause over voting in favour of Senator James Manager, the PDP candidate.
The tribunal subsequently directed INEC to withdraw the Certificate of Return from Senator James Manager and conduct a rerun within 90 days.
Reacting to the ruling, Uduaghan, in a statement by his Media Assistant, Monoyo Edon, said: “While we are happy with the tribunal’s judgement which affirmed my party’s position that the election was rigged and characterized with electoral over voting, we are not entirely satisfied with the judgement as the tribunal ought to have deducted the excess illegal votes and declared me and my party rightful winner of the election.
“In view of this, we shall be challenging the tribunal’s judgement at the Appeal Court to declare us as the outright winner of the February 23rd, 2019 National Assembly Election for Delta South Senatorial District.”
Uduaghan in the statement thanked the good people of Delta South and supporters who had been waiting for the outcome of this judgement and dedicated the victory to the people of Delta South, assuring of victory at the Court of Appeal.
