I will appeal tribunal judgment-Joshua Gana.
By Samson Alfa Minna.
The eldest son of Former minister of information Mr Joshua Audu-Gana, member representing Edati/Lavun/Mokwa Federal Constituency of Niger State, in the House of Representatives has expressed his willingness to appeal the judgment of the election petition tribunal.
The Judgement which was delivered yesterday at the election tribunal sitting at the high court complex Minna by a three-member tribunal headed by Sylvester Godspower agreed with the submissions of the petitioners.
The tribunal in the judgement which last for over two hours invalidated votes in the 23 polling units of the constituency, thereby reducing the votes of Gana to 46,494 out of 47,942 while those of Gbatamagi were reduced to 39,159 out of 40,003.
In a telephone interview with the Nigeria daily post, Joshua said:”while the tribunal has ruled for a rerun in some polling units of my constituencies, I remain a member of the House of Representatives until all judicial procedures are exhausted.
However there is no curse for alarm the tribunal directive for a rerun in 23 out of 482 polling units of the constituency affecting 14, 411 PVCs collected in the area,Joshua re-enphasised.
“This is not what we expected but this is democracy and we remain confident that our time in the House of Representatives is far from over”.
The media played a significant role for democracy Is trive “I understand the exuberance of the media to attract readership,i will not relent in the struggle to make life of my people more meaningful, knowingfully well that the judicial process does not end at the tribunal.
Nothing will deter me, as I will be focused on discharging my legislative responsibilities to the good people of Edati/Lavun/Mokwa Federal Constituency, and will defend the mandate given to me by my constituents at the Court of Appeal”.
“Iam confident that this judgment by the tribunal will not stand,Joshua retorted.
”I urge the good and hardworking people of Edati/Lavun/Mokwa Federal Constituency to keep the faith and be rest assured that their mandate will not be taken away under any guise.”
Our correspondent reports that Audu-Gana the eldest son of Prof Jerry Gana, was declared the winner after polling 47,942 votes to defeat Abdullahi Gbatamagi, candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC), who pulled 40,003 votes.
