ESO, J.S.C. (Delivering the Leading Judgment): On 2nd November, 1983, I allowed the appeal of Dr. T.U. Torti, the appellant in this appeal against the judgment of the Federal Court of Appeal. In my judgment I described the system employed by the respondent as simplistic but crude. I will now give my reasons for the conclusion I reached in my judgment.
The background to this case is very simple. Both the appellant, Torti, and the 1st respondent, Ukpabi, were candidates for election to the Umuahia senatorial district. The Federal Electoral Commission (Fedeco), which body was constitutionally set up to conduct the election, declared the first respondent elected. The figures as announced by Fedeco were as follows:
NPN (Ukpabi) 172,071
NPP (Torti) 153,832
thus the NPN had a majority of 18, 239.
In this case the appellant disputed only three constituencies to wit -
(i) Olokoro/Ubakala - wherein Fedeco recorded the NPN as having scored 16535 and the NPP 6224. Whereas according to the content…