<\/p>\n
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has rejected the
\njudgment of the Court of Appeal, Owerri Division which declared Alex
\nOtti,\u00fd the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance
\n(APGA) winner of the state governorship elections.<\/p>\n
The commission has therefore asked the Supreme Court to set aside the
\njudgment of the Court of Appeal and its place to uphold the judgment of
\nthe Abia Governorship Election Tribunal which upheld INEC’s declaration of
\nDr Okezie Ipeazu of the Peoples Democratic Party as winner of the
\nelection.<\/p>\n
In a brief or argument settled by INEC’s lead counsel, Chief Adegboyega
\nAwomolo, SAN who led a team of other senior lawyers including, Dr Livy
\nUzoukwu, SAN, A.B. Mahmoud, SAN, H.M. Liman, SAN, Ahmed Raji, SAN among
\nothers, the commission said that it was Ikpeazu who won the election and
\nnot Otti.<\/p>\n
INEC informed the Supreme Court that another panel of the Court of Appeal
\nupheld elections in respect of House of Assembly seats in Osisioma Local
\nGovernment Area and Isiala Ngwa North Local Government Area w\u00fdhich took
\nplace on the same day the governorship election was conduct.
\nIt will be recalled that in declaring Otti winner of the election, the Court
\nnullified the governorship election in the local government areas stated
\nabove.
\nINEC said: “Before concluding, we crave the indulgence of the court to very
\nrespectfully refer to an intriguing issue.<\/p>\n
“It is the fact that the court below, though differently constituted
\nconfirmed on appeal elections in respect of House of Assembly seats in
\nOsisioma LGA and Isiala North LGA which took place simultaneously with the
\nAbia Governorship same day, time, in the same polling units and where
\nvoters were accredited using the samevoters; registers and card readers.”
\nINEC further said that the Court of Appeal was wrong in law when it
\ncancelled the results of elections in three local government areas of Abia
\nState.<\/p>\n
It said “The conclusion that Otti and not Ikpeazu won majority of the
\nvalid votes cast at the election is neither borne out of the record nor
\njustified under the law.”
\nAccording to the commission, the court of appeal should have dismissed
\nOtti’s appeal\u00fd having found that a Returning Officer has no power to
\ncancel election results having regard to the provisions of Section 68 (1)
\nof the Electoral Act 2010 as amended.<\/p>\n
The commission also said that Otti’s notice of appeal at court of appeal was
\nincompetent and should have been dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has rejected the judgment of the Court of Appeal, Owerri Division which declared Alex Otti,\u00fd the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Grand…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7682,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-femi-fani-kayode","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n