Governor Okezie Ikpeazu: a big setback

The Court of Appeal sitting in Owerri, Imo state has nullified the election of  Dr Okezie Ikpeazu as governor of eastern Nigerian state of Abia.

In his place, the court ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission to swear in Dr Alex Otti, candidate of the All Progressive Grand Alliance(APGA) and a former banker.

Dr Alex Otti

The state election tribunal had upheld Ikpeazu’s election on April 11 and the supplementary poll on 25 April, in a ruling on 4 November.

The five-member panel, headed by Justice Oyebisi Omoleye, annulled the elections on the grounds of substantial non-compliance to the electoral law.

Delivering judgment in an appeal filed by Otti, the court said that the APGA candidate scored 164, 444 valid votes to defeat Ikpeazu who scored 114, 444 votes. It therefore declared Otto the winner.

Omoleye said that 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.’’

Omoleye had while reviewing preliminary objections and issues raised by both parties, struck out the preliminary objections by Ikpeazu’s counsel to the effect that the appeal lacked merit.

She also turned down the objection raised by the PDP that the members of the panel were wrongfully constituted and affirmed the arguments of 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.

After nullifying the election, 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 Otti as the genuine winner of the exercise.

The court therefore directed INEC to issue Certificate of Return to Otti and swear him in as winner of the Abia Governorship election.

In his reaction to the judgment, Mr Oracle Nwali, a lawyer in Otti’s legal team, described the victory as “an end of the year gift to APGA,’’ saying Otti would not disappoint Abia people.

On his part, Mr Charles Esonu, the PDP scribe in Abia, said that party and its candidate would study the judgment and decide on the next line of action.

Ikpeazu will also likely challenge the ruling at the Supreme Court.