The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the election of Francis Nwifuru as the Governor of Ebonyi State.Justice Tijjani Abubakar, who delivered the judgment, dismissed the appeal by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Chukwuma Odii.
Justice Abubakar described the appeal as lacking in meritDAILY POST reports that the Court of Appeal in Lagos had earlier affirmed the election of Nwifuru as the duly elected Governor of Ebonyi State.
In a unanimous decision, the three-member panel led by Justice Jummai Sankey dismissed the appeal filed by Chukwuma Odii of the PDP.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 APC as it relates to the nomination of candidates.The Ebonyi Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja had also 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 PDP, who garnered 80,191 votes.Bernard Odoh, came third with 52,189 votes.
Odoh and his party, the All Progressives Grand Alliance, 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 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 Nwifuru was not qualified to stand for the election because he allegedly submitted a fake certificate to INEC.H
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.
SOURCE: DAILY POST NEWSPAPER