October 06, (THEWILL) – The Abia Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Umuahia, on Friday, dismissed the two separate petitions filed by the candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in the March 18 gubernatorial election in the State, Okechukwu Ahaiwe and his counterpart in the All Progressives Congress (APC), Ikechi Emenike, against the victory of Governor Alex Otti of the Labour Party (LP).
A three-member panel of the Tribunal, led by Justice H.T.D Gwadah, dismissed the petitions for lack of merit.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had in March, declared Otti of LP as the duly elected Governor of Abia, after he polled 175,467 votes to beat his closest rival, Ahaiwe of the PDP, who secured 88,527 votes, while Enyinnaya Nwafor of the YPP secured 28,972 votes.
Dissatisfied with the outcome of the poll, Ahaiwe and Emenike had approached the tribunal to challenge Otti’s election victory.
They contended that Alex Otti was ineligible to participate in the 2023 governorship election and alleged that he was not a registered member of the Labour Party before the party’s primary election.
While the two petitions alleged Electoral Malpractice and Otti’s inability to score the required number of votes to qualify him to be declared the winner of the 2023 polls, Emenike argued that Otti had not resign membership of the APC as at the time he won the LP ticket for the Abia guber election.
Ruling on the Petitions on Friday, the tribunal in a unanimous decision, held that the petitioners failed in their attempt to convince the panel beyond reasonable doubt that the election was marred by irregularities and not conducted in substantial compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022.
It further held that the issue of whether Otti was qualified to contest or whether the LP’s governorship primary was not duly conducted “were entirely party affairs and, therefore, the tribunal lacked the jurisdiction”.
The tribunal also held that the petitioners were unable to prove beyond reasonable doubt their allegations that Otti did not score the majority of the lawful votes cast and that the election was marred by corrupt practices and irregularities.
According to the tribunal, no witness called by the petitioners spoke on documents tendered to prove allegation of overvoting. It also said that the petitioners failed to prove their claim that the result of Obingwa Local Government Area was taken to Abuja where it was allegedly doctored before being brought back to Abia to be declared.
On the allegation of forgery, the Tribunal held that the petitioners failed to lead evidence on the alleged forgery of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) certificate leveled against Otti.
It also held that NYSC was not a factor in qualifying or disqualifying a candidate.
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