*Former Senate President re-affirms his faith in the Judiciary *
Image: Former Senate President, David Mark
President of the Senate emeritus, Senator David Mark has reaffirmed his faith in the sanctity of the Judiciary and rule of law.
Sen Mark in reaction to the National and State assembly elections petition tribunal sitting in Makurdi, Benue state today which upheld his election of March 28, 2015, said the judiciary remains the hope and defender of the rights of the oppressed.
He expressed appreciation to the judiciary for standing for the truth and reaffirming the mandate freely given to him by the people of Benue South Senatorial district.
He therefore promised to do everything that is constitutionally right to bring dividend of democracy to the door steps of his constituents and beyond.
Earlier in the day, the Justice Mosumola Dipeolu led tribunal in a unanimous judgment that lasted for two and a half hours, dismissed the petition brought by the defeated All Progressive Congress, (APC) candidate, Daniel Onjeh challenging the election of Sen. Mark of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
In the judgement, the tribunal held that the petitioner failed to establish any case against Sen Mark.
Justice Dipeolu said Onjeh and his APC failed woefully to prove allegations of rigging, multiple thumb printing, over stuffing of ballots, allocation of votes, intimidation, harassment, and inducement of voters among others.
The tribunal also held that the petitioner failed to substantiate any of his claims which she said was fatal to Onjeh’s case.
The tribunal therefore discountenanced scanty evidence of PW 18 (Expert witness) called by Onjeh because the witness under cross examination accepted that there was error in his data analysis.
Sen Mark is currently the longest serving senator in Nigeria. He was elected in 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011 and 2015. He served as President of the Senate for an uninterrupted 8 years.
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