THE Court of Appeal in Lagos, has affirmed the election of Alex Otti of the Labour Party (LP), as the duly elected governor of Abia state.
The court dismissed appeals from the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and their governorship candidates against Otti.
On Saturday, December 2, the three-member Appeal Court panel unanimously upheld Otti’s election victory, stating that it complied with the Election Act’s requirements.
The appellate court, determined that, the appellants’ petitions lacked merit because they were similar to “a comedy skit brought to a democratic setting”.
According to the court, questions about political party membership are pre-election matters under the political party’s purview.
It went on to say that Otti was eligible to run because he had joined the Labour Party, won the party’s primary, and his name registered with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Regarding the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) concerns raised by the PDP and its candidate, the appeal court found that the appellants had not proven their case or connected their supporting documentation to the relevant portions.
The ICIR reported that INEC declared Otti of LP as the winner of the governorship election in Abia State.
Otti, emerged victorious in the March 18 guber polls, after beating his major rival, Okey Ahiwe of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The LP candidate secured 175,467 votes, while Ahiwe got 88,529.
Enyinnaya Nwafor of the Young Peoples Party (YPP) scored 28,972 votes to finish third.
The Returning Officer for INEC in Abia State, Nnenna Nnannaya-Oti, declared Otti the winner after resuming the final collation of governorship election results in Umuahia, the state capital, on Wednesday, March 22.
INEC had suspended the exercise for over 48 hours following reports that thugs invaded the Commission’s office in Obingwa Local Government Area on Sunday, March 19.
INEC officials were reportedly held hostage by the thugs, who wanted to influence the collation of results from the LGA.
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A reporter with the ICIR
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