Eket Federal Constituency: Technicalities and Other Intrusions In The Eyboh Vs Etteh Case

It was a hard-fought battle for Hon Eseme Eyiboh, of the All Progressives Congress, APC candidate and Hon Okpolupm Etteh of the People Democratic Party, PDP for the Eket/Onna/Esit Eket/Ibeno Federal Constituency.

While Eyiboh brought his national appeal and past legislative traction on the ground to bear to the battle, Etteh came with the goodwill of the PDP which has been the dominant party in Akwa Ibom State since 1999.

Also to Etteh’s favour was the disposal of the outgoing governor, Udom Emmanuel who is from the federal constituency and upon whom it would have been a shame to lose his federal constituency after eight years of leadership of the state.

However, to Eyiboh’s advantage was also the geopolitical landmark on the ground. Ibeno on account of its relative geopolitical insignificance had not provided a member of the House of Representatives, a fact former Governor Emmanuel was said to be committed to overturning.

In the consideration of some, the former governor was shooting himself in the foot as the majority of the people would rebel and choose Eyiboh.

However, Etteh appeared to have overcome the perceived challenges as the electoral officer in the February 25, 2023 federal constituency election, Professor Isongesit Solomon declared him the winner of the election.

According to her, Etteh of PDP, scored 33,001 votes to the 16,909 polled by Eyiboh of the APC. Two other candidates who showed some fighting spirit Mr Samuel Udo-Akagha of the Labour Party (LP) scored 8,790 votes while Mr Joseph Mbong of Youth Progressive Party (YPP) got 4,757 voted.

While there was reservation among supporters of Eyiboh over the conduct of the election with some alleging irregularities in the conduct of the election, there were, however, some among his fold who felt that the best way to claim his ‘mandate’ was what they claimed as the illegibility of the PDP candidate.

They relied on claims of forgery of the credentials presented by the PDP candidate, notably, his WASSCE certificate.

The kernel of Eyiboh’s case which was taken to the tribunal was that Etteh presented a forged certificate as he appeared to have abandoned assertions of irregularity which the legal team knew would be tasking to prove under the circumstances.

Last Thursday, August 31, the three man tribunal with Justice Kudirat Jose as chairman with Hon Justice M`uazu Abubakar and Hon Justice Philomena Nweke as members delivered its judgement which was suffice with technicalities.

1.Tribunal upheld the Petitioner’s objection that, since Election Tribunal matter is sui generis, that is, of its own kind, OKPOLUPM ETTEH’s, defence was filed outside the statutory 21 days allowance and same was struck out in favour of Eyiboh. This means he had no defence before the Tribunal.

However, to Etteh’s relief, the PDP which was the second respondent came in as a relief as the party filed in defence of its claim that the party won the election.

Also,  the Tribunal upheld the Petitioner’s objection that Okpolump Etteh’s reply on points of law was in excess of the allowed 10 pages and in violation of the Election Petition practice direction and same was struck out in favour of Eyiboh.

Tribunal upheld the Petitioner’s objection to the 2nd Respondent (PDP) whose reply on points of law was a re-argument and was also in excess of the 10 pages allowance by the practice direction. Same was struck out in favour of Eyiboh.

Tribunal upheld Petitioner’s contention that it was impossible for Okpolupm Etteh to have obtained his First School Leaving Certificate (Primary School) in 1988 and gained admission into the Polytechnic in 1990 for his OND just 2 years interval without a secondary school education or equivalent

Tribunal agreed that WASC or equivalent was a condition for admission  into tertiary institution .

Tribunal held that although Okpolupm had no defence to the petition, he can rely on what PDP filed and its witnesses.

However, the big blow for Eyiboh came when the Tribunal overuled Petitioner and admitted and relied on documents tendered by PDP even when none of the documents were pleaded by 2nd Respondent (PDP) but only Okpolupm whose defence was already struck out thus the pleadings on those documents were no longer existent.

Tribunal agreed with Petitioner that since Okpolupm Etteh asserted that the school of Management he obtained his OND had changed its name, he had the burden to prove that such a school existed but later changed its name.

Tribunal agreed the name of the school was none existent on the list of approved institutions but that evidence of Eyiboh that he went to Abia state and confirmed the school of management did not exist any where was hearsay.

Tribunal after citing the Supreme Court authorities cited by Petitioner’s Counsel that a document made falsely with intent to deceive amounts to forgery deviated to rely on another Supreme Court authority cited by respondents that to prove forgery petitioner ought to have tendered two set of documents being one original and the forged one to enable a comparison and that since petitioner did not do so he failed to prove forgery and the case was dismissed. Regardless , the Petitioner’s case was that, the school of management did not even exist anywhere and no original could thus be obtained.

On the difference between the names in the Primary School Certificate (FSLC)and other certificates presented by Okpolupm Etteh, the tribunal held that petitioner ought to have called as witness any person who claimed to have been the owner of the first school certificate.

Tribunal totally avoided making any pronouncement on Petitioner’s arguments that since the WASC was not obtained before the ND and other certificates, the OND was a false document that told a lie with intent to deceive and therefore amounted to forgery as held by many Supreme Court decisions cited by Petitioner’s Counsel.

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