Justice Tijjani Abubakar has delivered judgment on the Ebonyi State election appeal. The appeal filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Chukwuma Odii, was dismissed by Justice Abubakar. According to him, the appeal lacked merit.
This decision by the Court of Appeal in Lagos confirms the election of Nwifuru as governor of Ebonyi. The three-judge panel, chaired by Justice Jummai Sankey, dismissed the appeal filed by Chukwuma Odii of the PDP and rejected all points raised by the appellant, saying the appeal lacked merit.
Justice Sankey said the PDP and its candidates had no legal right to interfere in the internal affairs of the All Progressives Congress (APC) with regard to the nomination of candidates.
The Ebonyi Election Petition Tribunal, which was sitting in Abuja, had already upheld Nwifuru’s election as governor. According to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Nwifuru of the APC won the March 18 governorship election in the state. He polled 199,131 votes, beating his closest rival, Ifeanyi Odii of the PDP, who polled 80,191 votes. Odoh finished third with 52,189 votes.
Odoh and his party, APGA, have challenged Nwifuru’s declaration as the elected governor of the state and asked the court to nullify his election due to alleged forgery of certificates and “ineligibility” to contest in the elections.
The APGA candidate, a professor of geophysics, claimed that Nwifuru, at the time of the election, was still a member of the PDP and therefore ineligible to be sponsored by the APC. Odoh also maintained that Nwifuru was not qualified to contest the elections because he allegedly submitted a forged certificate to INEC.
Despite these challenges, the final decision rendered by the Court of Appeal upholds Nwifuru’s election as Ebonyi governor. The decision ends the legal battle surrounding the elections in the state and allows Nwifuru to continue in office as governor.