Imo North: Achonu Fumbles at tribunal, Accepts defeat

The court room of the reconstituted Imo North Senatorial district Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Owerri, was an interesting sight to behold last week, when the candidate of the People's Democratic Party, PDP, in the last concluded election in the area, Chief Athan Achonu, fumbled repeatedly in his bid to substantiate his allegations that the election which brought Senator Benjamin Uwajumogu, was marred by irregularities.

Our reporter gathered that the PDP candidate, who was led in a cross-examination by the defense Counsel failed in his attempt to convince the court that he was robbed of his mandate when he informed the court that his allegations were based on 'mere hearsay', as he could not authenticate the allegations or even read out the figures tabulated in the result sheets he tendered in evidence as valid results, complaining that they were blank.

Chief Achonu, who rattled the Tribunal court room when he could not tell the number of polling units in Okigwe zone or what he scored in his own polling unit, also admitted that the supplementary election which he hitherto claimed in his disposition to the court never held, actually took place.

The PDP candidate seemed not done yet in entertaining the audience in the Tribunal when he tendered 25 instead of 11 ward results for Isiala mbano local government area and could not provide the number of votes he scored in each of the six local government areas that make up the zone.

He further held the court spellbound when he disowned his own result table, telling the court  that he didn't understand it,  as well as ,  admitted that the extra 2,217 votes recorded in his Umunumo electoral Ward was a product of over-voting.

When asked about the total figures scored by him, as well as,  his opponent, Chief Achonu accepted that the APC candidate garnered 56,072 votes against his 43,815 votes, but went ahead to tender the voters register, his own ward and local government result sheets, as well as,  the pink copy of the polling unit results that should be tendered by his agents since  he was not the one that signed it as exhibits.

Meanwhile, the counsels  for the second, third and fourth respondents raised an objection on all the materials tendered by Chief Achonu and rulings were reserved for a later date  by the tribunal Judges .