The Supreme Court upheld the election victory of Ebonyi State Governor, Francis Nwifuru on Friday.
In its lead ruling, Justice Tijjani Abubakar dismissed two separate appeals seeking to remove Nwifuru of the All Progressives Congress, APC, from office.
It concluded that the appeals were “patently unmeritorious.”
The appeals, which challenged the return of Nwifuru as the valid winner of the governorship election held in the state on March 18, 2023, were filed by PDP candidate Chief Ifeanyi Odii and his All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) counterpart, Prof. Benard Odoh.
The Apex Court in its wisdom, said that there was no grounds to overturn the concurrent decisions of the Ebonyi State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal and the Court of Appeal, which maintained Nwifuru’s election.
It should be noted that the Independent National Election Commission, INEC, declared that Nwifuru polled 199,131 votes across the state’s 13 Local Government Areas, defeating his closest challenger, Dr. Odii of the PDP, who received 80,191 votes.
Dissatisfied with the election results, both PDP and APGA candidates petitioned the tribunal to contest them.
The petitioners, among other things, sought Nwifuru’s disqualification due to certificate fraud and his alleged ineligibility to run for election.
cc: Vanguard Ng
