Election petition: A’Ibom commissioner congratulates Gov Emmanuel while tribunal was yet to deliver judgment

File photo: Udom's men: Sir Emem Akpabio (L) and Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Bar. Emmanuel Enoidem at the Akwa Ibom Governorship Election Tribunal

By Nse Peter

Commissioner for Transport in Akwa Ibom State, Prince Godwin Ntuk Udeh has congratulated Governor Udom Emmanuel ‘for victory’ at the Akwa Ibom Governorship Election Tribunal even when the tribunal is yet to deliver its judgment in a case filed by the All Progressives Congress governorship candidate, Mr. Umana Okon Umana, challenging Emmanuel’s election.

The tribunal, sitting in Abuja, is set to give judgment today in the case which has caused so much tension among the political class and the ordinary people in Akwa Ibom State.

Godwin Ntuk Udeh’s congratulatory message to Governor Emmanuel is said to have been aired on the state-owned AKBC Radio, Wednesday morning, while the tribunal was yet to begin the day’s proceeding, to the surprise of the radio listeners in the state.

The commissioner is said to have said that “Udom Emmanuel’s victory today at the tribunal is a victory for the people,” while congratulating the governor for “emerging victorious at the tribunal”

“I was in shock when I heard the congratulatory message. I am not a lawyer, but in my layman’s view I think it is ethically wrong to publicly congratulate a party in a case that is before a court when the court has not yet given its judgment,” a concerned resident of Uyo who did not want his name mentioned in the story for fear of attack told Think Akwa Ibom!