Aggrieved constituents drawn from Akwa Ibom North-East Senatorial District have called on the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, to respect court order and swear-in Elder Bassey Etim as duly elected representative of the district.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), had declared Albert Bassey Akpan, as the winner but a Federal High Court in Uyo, in February this year, nullified the election in pre-election matters brought before it by Elder Bassey Etim.
The court held that Albert Akpan’s declaration violated some relevant sections of the Electoral Act.
Elder Bassey, former member of the House of Representatives for Uyo Federal Constituency has approached the Court, seeking the nullification of the poll, arguing that “Albert did not contest the Senatorial Primaries in December 2014.”
“He only contested for the governorship primaries, but when he lost the contest to the incumbent governor Udom Emmanuel, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) approached INEC, to substitute my name for Albert’s, which is against the electoral laws.”
Justice Fatun Riman of the Federal High Court, Uyo, in his ruling, declared Etim Bassey, as the authentic candidate and winner of the 2015 Senatorial poll for the Uyo Senatorial seat (Akwa Ibom Northeast), and ordered Albert Akpan, to vacate the seat for Etim, as well as refund all entitlements that accrued to him in the last two years to Elder Etim.
But disturbed by non-compliance with the court order, the Akwa Ibom North-East Senatorial District Elders Forum (AINSDEF), has urged the Senate President Bukola Saraki, to obey the order and swear-in Etim, as the rightful winner of the poll.
Chairman of the Forum, Elder Idorenyin Jacot, who presented the group’s position in an interview on Monday blamed the delay in swearing-in of Etim, on what he called “the politics of the National Assembly.”
“The Senate leadership has shown glaringly its level of compromise in the matter.
“Since the declaration of the Uyo Senate seat vacant by the judicial pronouncement, the people of the area had since lost their representation at the Upper Chamber.”
Jacot appealed to the leadership of the Senate to “look at the issues on merit and address them dispassionately in order to give the people of the area their voice, since Albert can no longer speak and represent them effectively.”
“It is worrisome that the leadership of the Senate would continue to allow Senator Bassey Albert to remain illegally in the Senate. He is no longer enjoying the support of the people of Uyo because he is illegitimately occupying the position and buying time,” he continued.
According to him the people of the area would continue to resist any imposition that does not flow with the wishes of the electorates and urged the Senate leadership to abide by the rule of law.
“Akwa Ibom North-East does not have any representative right now in the Senate since the illegal mandate fraudulently acquired by Albert had since been quashed by the court, so he is only occupying the position illegally,” he explained.
He, therefore, advised the Senate leadership to follow the recent examples in Taraba and Plateau States, where similar cases had been nullified by the Supreme Court and the original candidates reinstated.
