Umuahia tribunal rejects petition challenging Benjamin Kalu’s election as House Deputy Speaker
On Tuesday, the National Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal that was sitting in Umuahia dismissed a petition that challenged the election of Benjamin Kalu as the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives.
During the election for the National Assembly that took place on February 25 in the Bende Federal Constituency in Abia State, the candidate for the Labour Party, Chief Frank Chinasa, contested Kalu’s victory.
In the appeal that was submitted to the tribunal by his attorney, Mr. Yunus Usman (SAN), the candidate for the LP asked the tribunal to throw out all of the votes that were cast for Kalu because he did not meet the requirements to take part in the election.
According to the petitioner’s testimony before the tribunal, the deputy speaker did not meet the educational criteria specified in Section 65(2)(a) of the 1999 Constitution, which makes him unable to run in the election and disqualifies him from holding the office of speaker.
He contended that Kalu had used names other than Kalu Benjamin Okezie, which was his current name, on several educational diplomas. The current name of Kalu was Benjamin Okezie.
Justice Samson Paul-Gang, who was serving as the panel’s head, decided not to grant the petition because he found it to be without merit.
He encouraged all involved parties to take responsibility for the administrative expenses.
The judge came to the conclusion that the petitioners had not proven their case beyond a shadow of a doubt, and as a result, the judge dismissed the case.
