Cross Rivers: Tribunal grants order for ADC National Assembly candidate to inspect INEC card readers, other materials

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Cross Rivers: Tribunal grants order for ADC National Assembly candidate to inspect INEC card readers, other materials

 

The Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Calabar, Cross River State capital has granted an order for the candidate of the African Democratic Congress in the Obubra/Etung Federal Constituency seat, in the 2019 General elections, Innocent Ovat, to inspect the Smart Card Reader machines that were deployed in each polling unit during the elections.

The Order, which came from a motion ex-parte, also directed “the Resident Electoral Commissioner in the State to forthwith produce, provide and release to the petitioners, for their own use in this petition, certified true copies of the printout of data of accredited/verified voters of each polling unit as recorded by the smart card readers deployed for the election to the membership of the House of Representatives of Obubra/Etung Federal Constituency.”

Other materials, which the Tribunal Order INEC to release to the petitioner include the certified true copies of Form EC 8A of all the polling units/voting points in Etung and Obubra Local Government Areas.

The petition with suit number EPT/CAL/HR/12/2019 further requested as granted, “an Order mandating, compelling and directing the REC of INEC (3rd Respondent) to forthwith produce, provide and release to the petitioners for their own use in this petition CTC of 3rd Respondent letter of 22/02/2019 and captioned: Forwarding of Commission’s decision in pursuant of order Court Suit No: FHC/CA/CS/731/2018, Hon Godwin Etim John vs APC and others”.

The chairman of the Tribunal, Justice Vincent M. Agbata, who read the Order on behalf of the 3-man panel, said the petitioners will have accesses to the inspection and the materials as ordered in the company of the secretary of the tribunal.

Petitioners in the case are Innocent Ovat and African Democratic Congress while the respondents are Hon. Michael Irom Etaba, Peoples Democratic Party and the Independent National Electoral Commission.

Ovat, who spoke with newsmen, said he had written to INEC and held meetings with the REC, requesting to have access to the materials to help his petition to no avail, hence his ex-parte application to the tribunal. The matter was adjourned for date to be communicated to the parties.

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Text Scandal Candidate Rejected By Arizona Republicans

BREAKING NEWS

Text Scandal Candidate Rejected By Arizona Republicans

Former state senator Debbie Lesko won the GOP primary in a special congressional election in Arizona Tuesday night, The Associated Press reported. Republicans there rejected a front-runner who had been hit by scandal in the final days of the race to fill a seat vacated by a former congressman who had himself resigned in disgrace.

With 100 percent of precincts reporting, Lesko had earned 36 percent of the vote in the crowded primary, with former state Sen. Steve Montenegro well behind and nearly tied with former Donald Trump campaign official Phil Lovas, according to results published by the Arizona Secretary of State.

Republican candidate and former Arizona state Sen. Debbie Lesko, right, celebrates with former Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer as she claims victory in the Congressional District 8 seat during a campaign party at Lesko's home in Glendale, Arizona, Tuesday night. Ralph Freso / AP

Flanked by former Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, her most prominent supporter, Lesko thanked supporters who had gathered at her home and told reporters she was looking forward to the general election in April. “This is so sweet,” she said. "We’re going to have a party in April."

Montenegro conceded the race at a sports bar in Goodyear, Arizona.

Republican Trent Franks left Congress last year after admitting that he had put female staffers in inappropriate positions, including requesting they serve as surrogate mothers for his children.

Last week, the election to replace Franks was rocked when Montenegro, whom Franks had endorsed, got tangled up in his own scandal involving a junior staffer.

Several prominent Arizona Republicans called on Montenegro to withdraw from the race after text messages leaked to local media showed that Montenegro, a Christian minister, received a topless photo of a woman during a year-long flirty relationship.

Montenegro denied the relationship was inappropriate or ever got physical, and said he cut off contact with the woman and informed his wife when she sent the nude photo. But the relationship may have been enough to cost Montenegro the race.

Lesko will now face off against Democrat Hiral Tipirneni, a physician who also won her own primary Tuesday night, in the April 24 special election. But Republicans are heavily favored to retain the conservative district, even with the wind at Democrats’ backs this year.

The outcome will have some Arizona Republicans breathing easier, since they feared the possibility of a Democratic upset with a Roy Moore-like candidate on the ballot if Montenegro had won.

Source NBC News

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