Supreme Court upholds election of Francis Nwifuru as Ebonyi Governor

The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the election of Francis Nwifuru as the Governor of Ebonyi State.

Justice Tijjani Abubakar who delivered the judgment, dismissed the appeal by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and it’s candidate, Chukwuma Odii.

Justice Abubakar described the appeal as lacking in merit

NAN reports that the Court of Appeal in Lagos had earlier affirmed the election of Nwifuru as the duly elected governor of Ebonyi .

In a unanimous decision, the three-member panel led by Justice Jummai Sankey dismissed the appeal filed by Chukwuma Odii of the Peoples Democratic Party.

The panel also resolved all five issues raised against the appellant and dismissed the appeal for lacking merit.

Justice Sankey held that the PDP and its candidates lacked the legal right to meddle in the internal affairs of the All Progressives Congress as it relates to the nomination of candidates.

NAN reports that the Ebonyi Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja had upheld the election of Nwifuru as governor.

INEC had declared Nwifuru of the APC as the winner of the 18 March governorship election in the state.

Nwifuru polled 199,131votes to defeat his closest challenger, Ifeanyi Odii of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who garnered 80,191 votes.

Odoh, came third with 52,189 votes.

Odoh and his party, the APGA, challenged the declaration of Nwifuru as the elected governor of the state and asked the tribunal to nullify his election on the grounds of alleged certificate forgery and “ineligibility” to stand for the election.

The APGA candidate, a geophysics professor, contended that Nwifuru, at the time of the election, was still a member of the PDP and therefore ineligible to be sponsored for the election by the APC.

Odoh further argued that Mr Nwifuru was not qualified to stand for the election because he allegedly submitted a fake certificate to INEC.

He urged the tribunal to order for a second election between the other two candidates who scored the highest number of votes at the previous election and exclude the governor from taking part in it.(NAN)