₦airaland Forum

* UPDATE: Appeal Court says Alex Otti of APGA
scored 164, 444 valid votes to defeat PDP's
Okezie Ikpeazu, who scored 114, 444 votes.

The Court of Appeal, sitting in Owerri, has
removed Okezie Ikpeazu of the Peoples
Democratic Party as governor of Abia State.
The court also declared Alex Otti of the All
Progressives Grand Alliance the winner of the
April 11 and April 25 supplementary elections in
the state.
Delivering judgment in an appeal filed by Mr. Otti,
the five-member panel, headed by Justice
Oyebisi Omoleye, said the APGA candidate
scored 164, 444 valid votes to defeat Mr.
Ikpeazu who scored 114, 444 votes.
The court declared that Mr. Otti was the winner
of the April 11 and April 25 supplementary
elections in Abia.
Justice Omoleye said the cancellation of the
elections held in three LGAs of Obingwa,
Osisioma Ngwa and Isiala Ngwa by the returning
officers after the results were uploaded to INEC
was wrong.
“In the Electoral Act, the Returning Officer has
the right to only declare results of elections and
not to cancel elections.
“This panel discovered that the earlier results
uploaded to INEC headquarters correspond with
the correct valid registered voters in the three
LGAs, while that awarded to the respondent
shows over voting and therefore null and void.’’
Justice Omoleye had while reviewing preliminary
objections and issues raised by both parties,
struck out the preliminary objections by Mr.
Ikpeazu’s counsel to the effect that the appeal
lacked merit.
The court also turned down the objection raised
by the PDP that the members of the panel were
wrongfully constituted and affirmed the
arguments of Mr. Otti’s counsel.
The appellate court maintained that the lower
tribunal erred by not handling all the issues
raised before it on their merit.
“It was wrong for the court below to insist that
because the appellant failed to appear in person,
his matter will not be given due attention.
“For not appearing in person, the first appellant
did not abandon his case,” she said.
The court insisted that there was no need to call
for re-run because the results of the April 11 and
25 polls clearly present Mr. Otti as the genuine
winner of the exercise.
The court therefore directed INEC to issue
Certificate of Return to Mr. Otti and swear him in
as winner of the Abia Governorship election.
In his reaction to the judgment, Oracle Nwali, a
lawyer in Mr. Otti’s legal team, described the
victory as “an end of the year gift to APGA”,
saying Mr. Otti would not disappoint Abia people.
On his part, Charles Esonu, the PDP secretary in
Abia, said the party and its candidate would
study the judgment and decide on the next line
of action.
Mr. Otti had proceeded to the Court of Appeal
after the Abia tribunal gave its judgment on
November 3, saying the PDP validly won the
election.
In that 85-minute judgment, delivered by its
Chairman, Usman Bwala, the tribunal said the
petitioners – Mr. Otti and APGA – failed to prove
their claim to have won the election ‘’beyond
doubt”.
Mr. Bwala said the petitioners had, on one hand
urged the court to nullify the election on grounds
that it was marred by irregularities and massive
fraud and on the other hand, sought that they
should be declared winners of the same election.
He said the petitioners reckoned with the card
reader as a means of accreditation during the
election of April 11 but failed to agree with use
of voter’s register.
The tribunal further refused to grant the
petitioners’ request to uphold the cancellation of
the results of the election in Obingwa, Osisioma
and Isiala-Ngwa North Local Government Areas
of the state.
Mr. Bwala said the State Returning Officer,
Benjamin Ozumba, was not allowed under the
law, to cancel the said results in the first place,
hence the subsequent reversal by him had no
effect.
He said the onus lay heavily on the petitioners to
prove beyond doubt that they won the election
as they claimed in their petition.
The tribunal chairman, therefore, dismissed the
petition because of the failure of the petitioners
to convince the tribunal beyond doubt that they
won the election.
Mr. Otti had urged the tribunal to annul the
declaration of Mr. Ikpeazu as governor, saying
the election was marred by irregularities and
substantial non-compliance with the Electoral
Act.
He, however, urged the tribunal to declare him
(Otti) the winner on account of the lawful votes
cast during the election.
He also asked the tribunal to uphold Mr.
Ozumba’s cancellation of the results for
Obingwa, Osisioma and Isiala-Ngwa North LGAs.
He said that Ozumba, having cancelled the
results, did not have the power to cancel the
result and reverse himself, adding that only the
tribunal had the power to reverse the
cancellation.
www.premiumtimesng.com/news/196010-appeal-court-sacks-abia-governor-okezie-ikpeazu-declares-apgas-alex-otti-winner.html

Cc:Lalasticlala, mynd44

That's good justice...

I supported otti during the elections for he is the people's choice but ikpeazu is seriously trying now

I don't know how to feel about this judgement but then again I am not from abia

ozoigbondu:
I supported otti during the elections for he is the people's choice but ikpeazu is seriously trying now

I don't know how to feel about this judgement but then again I am not from abia

rest assured that you have not heard the last of this case because okezie will definitely go to the Supreme Court

Goodbye to PDP In Abia...
T.A Orji tarnished the name of PDP there

nwadiuko1:
rest assured that you have not heard the last of this case because okezie will definitely go to the Supreme Court

to do what if I may ask?

chiefobdk:
to do what if I may ask?

if you don't know what people do at the Supreme Court at you age then u r on long thing

nwadiuko1:
if you don't know what people do at the Supreme Court at you age then u r on long thing

to get disappointed I guess...


brace up. you will give it all up for apga.

better start to lobby now weda u go retain Ur job.

Ia Alex an APC man? Hahahaha

We have not heard the last of the matter. The total number of voters with PVC in those 3 local government is higher than the margin of the result. After the supreme court, the ruling would likely call for fresh elections in those 3 local governments, on the grounds that you can't disenfranchise over 70,000 voters in an election that the winner is leading with less than 40,000 votes. And we all know where the votes of those LGA's would swing to. That is Ikpeazu's strong hold