The complaints filed by Ikechi Emenike of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and Okey Ahaiwe of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, against Governor Alex Otti will be decided upon today by the governorship election petition tribunal located in Umuahia, the capital of Abia State.
Through his lead attorney, Tochukwu Maduka, SAN, Emenike, the APC’s candidate for governor in the March 18 election, asked the court to remove Otti from office on the grounds that Otti had not resigned from the APC when joining the LP in 2022.
In his appeal, Emenike also claimed that Otti’s name was not in the LP registry at the time of the party’s nomination of Otti as its candidate for governor in the 2023 election.
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Ikechi Emenike joined Okey Ahaiwe of the Peoples Democratic Party, YPP’s Enyinnaya Nwafor, and the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, as respondents to the lawsuit.
The PDP’s Okey Ahaiwe, who finished second in the elections on March 18, is also contesting Governor Otti’s victory and asking the court to oust Otti and declare Ahaiwe the true winner.
Ahaiwe argued his case before the tribunal through his primary attorney, Paul Ananaba, SAN, pleading with it to take the evidence and arguments into consideration.
A PDP witness who had been subpoenaed, Samuel Oduntan, had also come before the tribunal to testify before the written addresses were adopted.
A.J. Owonikoko, the attorney for Governor Otti, requested that the tribunal reject all claims made against Otti while adopting his written address.
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Additionally, he said that Samuel Oduntan lacked the authority to stand before the tribunal.
Therefore, the SAN requested that the tribunal affirm Otti’s victory.
Since last week, Abia State’s information space has been flooded with vehement opinions over today’s verdict coming from various parties.
A number of statements have been made by the three gladiators’ supporters, some of which have been the focus of a media battle in the State since this week.
The State government had earlier this week denied funding Mr. Obi’s court challenge challenging President Bola Tinubu’s victory as the Labour Party’s presidential candidate in the election on February 25.
In the same statement, the State administration refuted claims that it had sponsored Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) members to incite unrest in Abia.
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The Abia State government was also accused by the two parties contesting Otti’s victory of allegedly supporting the party that levelled the charges against it.
However, the PDP in the State denied endangering tribunal members or supporting any gang in a response signed by Vice Chairman Abraham Amah.
Alex Otti of the LP was officially proclaimed the governor of Abia by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in March after receiving 175,467 votes.
Enyinnaya Nwafor of the YPP finished third with 28,972 votes, placing her ahead of Okey Ahaiwe of the PDP in second place with 88,527 votes.
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