Court of Appeal sitting in Owerri, Imo State yesterday reserved judgment in the appeal filed by Dr Alex Otti, the governorship candidate of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in the 2015 Abia State gubernatorial poll.
Dr. Otti of APGA had earlier challenged the declaration of Dr. Ikpeazu Okezie of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the winner of the governorship poll by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), at the lower tribunal and lost.
When the appellant’s application pending before five-member tribunal headed by Justice Oyebisi Omoloye came up for argument yesterday, the appellant’s counsel, Akin Olujimi (SAN) urged the court to upturn the decision of the lower panel. He claimed that the judgment of the lower tribunal fell short of the electoral law.
Respondent’s counsel, Wole Olenipekun (SAN), however, raised preliminary objection on the constitution of the panel, arguing that there was a serious flaw in the way and manner members of the panel were picked.
“Four out of the five members of the panel came from Lagos judicial division, while one came from Makurdi division and such arrangement negotiates the provision of relevant law for the constitution of very important panel like this,” he said.
After allowing parties to adopt their briefs, chairman of the panel, Justice Omoloye adjourned the matter indefinitely for judgment.
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