The Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abakaliki, the capital of Ebonyi State on Monday upheld the election of Governor David Umahi of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the March 9 governorship election.
The election of the governor was challenged by the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Movement, PDM, Chief Ajah Agha, who petitioned the Tribunal on what he termed unlawful exclusion of his name from INEC ballot paper, accusing PDP and its candidate to have masterminded his exclusion.
The sitting which took place at the state High Court premises had Justice A.B Abdukarim as the presiding judge.
The Judgement of the tribunal which took over three months to be delivered was Monday dismissed for lacking in merit by justice Abdukarim.
Delivering the judgement, chairman of the Tribunal quashed the case, saying,” PDM did not submit the name of their candidate to INEC when they were supposed to do so.
“Your party sent the name three days after closure of submission according to finding.”
“Also your party did not organize primaries as to produce a candidate according to INECs guideline, therefore, your petition lacks merit,” he stated.
