WorldStage Newsonline– The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the election of Alex Otti as duly elected governor of Abia State.
Justice Uwani Abba-Aji while delivering the judgment dismissed the appeal against the victory of Otti.
She held that the appeal by the PDP lacked merit.
The appeals were lodged against Otti, who won his election on the platform of the Labour Party, LP, by the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Okey Ahiwe, and his counterpart in the All Progressives Congress, APC, Chief Ikechi Emenike.
It will be recalled that the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) declared that Otti polled 175,466 votes to defeat his closest rival, Ahiwe of the PDP, who scored 88,529 votes in the gubernatorial poll that was held on March 18, 2023.
Dissatisfied with the outcome of the election, both Ahiwe and Emenike of the APC, who came in third, separately challenged it.
However, in a judgement delivered on October 6, 2023, the Abia State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal dismissed the petitions and upheld Otti’s election victory.
The verdict of the tribunal was affirmed by the Court of Appeal in Lagos, which also dismissed appeals that were entered against Otti by both the PDP and APC candidates
PLATEAU
The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the election of Mr Caleb Mutfwang as the duly elected governor of Plateau.
The appeal filed by Mutfwang, sought of to restore his mandate to lead the state was allowed and the judgment of the Court of Appeal set aside.
Justice Emmanuel Agim who delivered the judgment held that the appeal by the governor had merit.
The appeal court had in a unanimous decision in November ruled that Muftwang was not sponsored by his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The court held that Nentawe Yilwada of the All Progressives Congress (APC) won the 18 March 2023 governorship election and therefore upheld his appeal.
According to the result declared by INEC, Mutfwang scored 525,299 votes to beat Mr Yilwada polled 481,370 votes.
The Plateau Governorship Election Petition Tribunal had earlier affirmed Muftwang’s victory prompting Mr Yilwada to file an appeal at the appeal court.
EBONYI
The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the election of Francis Nwifuru as the governor of Ebonyi.
Justice Tijjani Abubakar who delivered the judgment, dismissed the appeal by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and it’s candidate, Chukwuma Odii.
Justice Abubakar described the appeal as lacking in merit
The Court of Appeal in Lagos had earlier affirmed the election of Nwifuru as the duly elected governor of Ebonyi .
In a unanimous decision, the three-member panel led by Justice Jummai Sankey dismissed the appeal filed by Chukwuma Odii of the Peoples Democratic Party.
The panel also resolved all five issues raised against the appellant and dismissed the appeal for lacking merit.
Justice Sankey held that the PDP and its candidates lacked the legal right to meddle in the internal affairs of the All Progressives Congress as it relates to the nomination of candidates.
The Ebonyi Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja had upheld the election of Nwifuru as governor.
INEC had declared Nwifuru of the APC as the winner of the 18 March governorship election in the state.
Nwifuru polled 199,131votes to defeat his closest challenger, Ifeanyi Odii of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who garnered 80,191 votes.
Odoh, came third with 52,189 votes.
Odoh and his party, the APGA, challenged the declaration of Nwifuru as the elected governor of the state and asked the tribunal to nullify his election on the grounds of alleged certificate forgery and “ineligibility” to stand for the election.
The APGA candidate, a geophysics professor, contended that Nwifuru, at the time of the election, was still a member of the PDP and therefore ineligible to be sponsored for the election by the APC.
Odoh further argued that Mr Nwifuru was not qualified to stand for the election because he allegedly submitted a fake certificate to INEC.
He urged the tribunal to order for a second election between the other two candidates who scored the highest number of votes at the previous election and exclude the governor from taking part in it.
