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The Appeal Court sitting in Lagos State, has affirmed the election of Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere as the House of Representatives member for Ideato North and South Federal Constituency of Imo State.
The Appeal Court panel led by Justice Abubakar Babandi Gumel set aside the ruling of the Tribunal which had sacked Ugochinyere.
The election petition tribunal sitting in Mararaba High Court had ruled that Ugochinyere’s PDP was no candidate for the election because there were no primaries in the Federal Constituency.
The panel which delivered the judgement on September 10th, also directed the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to conduct rerun election Calls in 4 Wards between APC and LP candidates.
Read Also: Group Rejoices Over Senator Kalu’s Win In Appeal Court
However, a unanimous judgment delivered by Gumel on Wednesday overruled the judgments of the tribunal.
Gumel held that the petition was a pre-election matter and as such, the tribunals lacked jurisdiction over pre-election matters.
In another report, protest rocked Umuahia, the Abia State capital yesterday as members of the ruling Labour Party, marched through major streets to register their displeasure over the sack of the Senate Minority Whip and Senator representing Abia Central, Senator Darlington Nwokocha (LP).
The Eastern Updates had reported that the Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos had on Saturday sacked Senator Nwokocha, and declared the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Col. Austin Akobundu (retd.), the winner of the 25th of February senatorial poll in the Abia Central district.
The protesters, led by the Deputy Speaker of the Abia State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Austin Meregini, vehemently rejected the judgment, and called for its review.
They also required that every member of the panel that rendered the decision be thoroughly investigated.
