Supreme Court affirms Umahi as Ebonyi gov

THE Supreme Court yesterday affirmed Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State as validly elected gov­ernor of the state.

In a unanimous decision by a seven-man panel headed by the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Mahmud Muhammed, the Court dismissed the appeal of Labour Party’s governorship candidate, Chief Ed­ward Nkwegu, on the grounds that it was lacking in merit. Dismissing the appeal, the CJN, however, said it would give reasons for its judgment on February 5.

The Appeal Court sitting in Enugu, Enugu State had dismissed the suit filed by Nkweagu, candidate of La­bour Party in 2O15 governorship election in Ebonyi State, for lack of merit.

The court upheld the tribunal’s declaration of Uma­hi as winner of the governorship election in the state. Justice J. O. Oyewole, had in his judgment held that the five reliefs sought by the applicant lacked merit. The governorship election petition tribunal had in Oc­tober 2015 in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, dismissed the petition filed by Nkweagu challenging the declaration of Umahi as the winner of the election by the Indepen­dent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Dissatis­fied with the judgment of the tribunal, the petitioner proceeded to the Court of Appeal sitting in Enugu to challenge the verdict.

Share on Google Plus

About The Nigerian Blogger

This is a short description in the author block about the author. You edit it by entering text in the "Biographical Info" field in the user admin panel.