S’Court Affirms Nwifuru’s Election as Ebonyi Governor

Alex Enumah in Abuja 

The apex court, in a unanimous judgment, has also affirmed the election of Mr Francis Nwifuru as Governor of Ebonyi State.

A five-member panel of the apex court in a judgment dismissed the appeal filed by Chuwkuma Odii and his party, PDP, challenging the concurrent judgments of the Court of Appeal and the Ebonyi State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, which affirmed the election of Francis Nwifuru as Governor of Ebonyi State, for lacking in merit.

The Court of Appeal, sitting in Lagos had upheld the election that declared Nwifuru of the All Progressives Congress (APC) winner of the March 18 governorship election in Ebonyi State.

The appellate court had upheld Nwifuru’s election shortly after it dismissed Odii’s appeal for being incompetent and lacking in merit.

The three-member panel, led by Justice Jummai Sankey, had in a unanimous judgment held that the PDP and its candidate lacked the legal standing to challenge Nwifuru’s nomination as candidate of the APC in the March 18 governorship poll in Ebonyi State.

The court also dismissed all five issues raised by the petitioners, declaring Nwifuru’s election valid and upholding his victory.

Affirming the concurrent judgments on Friday, Justice Tijjani Abubakar, who delivered the lead judgment of the apex court, reiterated that the issue of membership is a pre-election matter and cannot be entertained by the court.

Abubakar stated that the two courts below were right to dismiss the appellants’ case for lacking in merit.

“This appeal has no merit and it is accordingly dismissed, the concurrent judgments affirming the election of Francis Nwifuru is affirmed,” he said.