Posted by From Emmanuel Ugwu in Umuahia on
Alliance for Democracy (AD) in Abia State has expressed great concern over election petitions still pending at the tribunals more than a year after the 2007 general elections.
Alliance for Democracy (AD) in Abia State has expressed great concern over election petitions still pending at the tribunals more than a year after the 2007 general elections.
The party said the slow pace of the judicial process was preventing legitimate people from occupying elective positions.
The state chairman of AD, Dr. Anya Onyije, told newsmen at Aba that there was no reason why election petitions should continue to drag on indefinitely despite the sad experience of such judicial delays in the past and the attendant distortions of tenure.
Citing the governorship tussle in Abia State, which is presently pending at the Appeal Court in Port Harcourt, the AD leader said that 'justice delayed is justice denied," adding that delay in the judicial process has made 'those who were not qualified to contest the election" to occupy office since the inception of the present administration last year.
Corroborating the chairman, the state secretary, Mr. Simple Nwankpa described the Abia governorship petition as 'a knotty constitutional matter." He added that final judgment in the case 'will be a reference point in future and a case study in Nigeria."
'If Ugochukwu wins at the Appeal tribunal, his administration will start from the day of the inauguration because there is already a precedent in the case between former Gov. Chris Ngige and Gov. Peter Obi of Anambra state," he said.