Tribunal judgement: Eti-Osa people can exercise their franchise – PDP chieftain, Bankole Wellington

<p>The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP for the Eti-Osa House of Representatives seat in the last election, Bankole Wellington has expressed excitement over the tribunal’s judgement on his petition.</p>, <p>DAILY POST recalls that the National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Ikeja, Lagos State on September 12, ordered a supplementary election for the Eti-Osa House of Reps seat.</p>, <p>The tribunal ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC to conduct a supplementary election in 32 polling units in the constituency within 90 days.</p>, <p>INEC had declared Thaddeus Attah of the Labour Party, LP, winner of the election but the PDP candidate approached the court, alleging irregularities in the conduct of the election.</p>, <p>Delivering judgement on the petition, the court on Monday last week, nullified the return of Thaddeus and ordered supplementary polls.</p>, <p>Reacting to the tribunal’s verdict, Banky W in an interview with Arise TV on Tuesday, said the electorates who were allegedly disenfranchised during the poll, now have a second chance to make their choices.</p>, <p>According to him, about 29,000 eligible voters were denied their constitutional rights following intimidation, vote suppression and other electoral malpractices.</p>, <p>He said, “I am grateful that the tribunal agreed that when it comes to the matter of electoral processes, every voice deserves to be heard and every voice deserves to be counted.</p>, <p>“What we saw in Eti-Osa which probably reflected in every other part of the country is that there were several polling units where elections didn’t happen.</p>, <p>“In some places, there was voter suppression, intimidation and in some places there was violence, in some places INEC officials showed up but there were no ballots.</p>, <p>“From our calculations, about 29,000 people were not able to participate in the election, which is their constitutional right.</p>, <p>“I’m glad that the tribunal saw merit in our petition. The people who were denied