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| Gen. JT Useni Rtd |
Keep hope alive, we would go on Appeal and retrieve our
mandate – Useni assures the people of Plateau
By Dickson Gupiya
Following
the judgement of the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal in Jos on
Wednesday, October 2, 2019, the PDP Plateau Governorship Candidate Senator (Lt.
Gen) Jeremiah Timbut Useni has been fully
briefed by his Legal Team on the outcome of his petition.Useni, who contested
the Governorship election conducted on 9 and 23 March 2019, filed a petition at
the Tribunal in April, challenging the declaration of Rt. Hon. Simon Lalong as
the winner of the election by the Independent National Electoral Commission
(INEC). Hearing of the petition went on months after which parties in the
matter closed their cases after calling several witnesses and tendered series
of documents.
The
Tribunal delivered its judgement on 2 October, 2019 affirming the election of
Lalong. However, General Useni in a statement by Hon. Abraham Yiljap, Media
Consultant, is convinced that there are many grounds to appeal the
judgement. He therefore, said to have
instructed the legal team to take all processes with immediate effect and proceed
on appeal against judgement.
Useni is also said to have
expressed his appreciation to his legal experts and said he maintains his
confidence in them. He has also expressed confidence in the Nigerian judiciary
to do substantial justice.
The statement stated that
the PDP Governorship candidate was further encouraged by the fact that the
Supreme Court had last week upheld his interlocutory appeal against a Court of
Appeal judgement which expunged the testimonies of 21 of his witnesses earlier
considered by the tribunal. He however regretted that the tribunal did not
avert its mind to the Supreme Court judgement which in turn affected its
judgement.
Useni added that the bulk
of the tribunal’s findings were as a matter of fact in favour of his petition
stressing that the fact that Governor Simon Bako Lalong did indeed give false
information on oath. “But surprisingly, the tribunal did not give any
consequential order to nullify his election”, said Useni.
He appealed for calm among
supporters and party faithful, and assured that he will resolutely deploy legal
instruments to retrieve the mandate that the people of Plateau freely gave him
in the polls.
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