Anambra State : Appeal Court Rules Against APC, PDP

The Appeal Court sitting in Enugu on
Saturday 26th July, struck out four suits filed
against the All Progressives Grand Alliance
(APGA) challenging the candidature of
Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra at the
November 2013 gubernatorial election.
The suits were filed by the All Progressives
Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP). The petitioners are Tony
Nwonye, an aspirant of the PDP at the
election and an APGA governorship aspirant,
Chike Obidigbo.

Delivering the four separate judgments on
the appeals, the five-man panel led by
Justice Mohammed Garba, said the appeal
was struck out for incompetence and lack of
merit.
The court, however, affirmed the judgment
delivered on June 4 by the Anambra Election
Petition Tribunal in Awka, and awarded the
sum of N50,000 each to the respondent in
the four suits.

“Having considered the preliminary
objections by the respondents and the
motions filed by the appellant, I will not
read the judgment word to word but will
deliver it as provided by the court.
“I have considered the objections raised by
the counsels with regards to the first and
fourth respondent, and I hereby uphold the
decision made by the tribunal in Awka,”
Garba said.
Reacting to the judgment, the Chairman of
APGA, Chief Victor Umeh, commended the
judiciary for upholding the rule of law. “I am
grateful to God Almighty.

“The Court of Appeal in a unanimous
decision dismissed all the appeals standing
against our victory at the lower tribunal in
Awka following our victory at the
governorship election in 2013.

“We were not in doubt that all these appeals
will be dismissed because APGA and its
candidate won the election with landslide
margin with the vote of the people.
“I have always known that the election
tribunal is not a Mongo Park story. You
must approach the court with facts.
“We are encouraged by these judgments that
have affirmed the decision at Awka,” Umeh
said.
The Anambra Chairman of the APC, Mr
Emeka Ibe, said the party would appeal the
judgment of the court in a higher court.
“We are happy with what they did with
regards to giving the judgment within the
time frame. With this, we now have basis to
appeal. This court is not the final court.

“The final court with respect to election
petitions is the Supreme Court. I want to say
that we are going to appeal against the
judgment.
“We are not going to rest until the Supreme
Court gives the final judgment and we will be
bound by it,” Ibe said.
On his part, the counsel to APC and Sen.

Chris Ngige, Mr Bona Orakwe, said the party
would analyse the judgment before knowing
the next line of action to take.
“It is most likely that we will go to the
Supreme Court,” he said.
The APC had filed an appeal alleging
disenfranchisement of voters, invalid voters
register and multiple registrations, among
others, that affected the poll.
Nwonye of the PDP also filed an appeal
seeking the nullification of the election for
alleged irregularities and disenfranchisement.