NewStats: 3,264,114 , 8,182,638 topics. Date: Monday, 09 June 2025 at 05:37 PM 586bk

The Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos has upheld the judgement of the tribunal affirming Alex Chioma Otti of the Labour Party (LP) as duly elected Governor of Abia State in the 18th March Governorship poll.

On March 23, INEC declared LP's Otti winner with 175467 votes against his closest challenger, PDP's Okey Ahiwe (88529 votes)

Dissatisfied with the results as declared, in separate appeals Ahiwe & PDP as well as Ikechi Emenike & APC approached the tribunal, praying amongst others:

-That Otti was not a ed member of the Labour Party and his name could not be found in the of the Party 30 days to the Primaries, contrary to Section 77 of the Electoral Act 2022.

- That Otti did not score the majority of lawful votes.

-That there was over-voting and "doctoring" of results in certain parts of the State.

-That there was suppression of votes especially in Obingwa & Umuahia North & South LGAs that provoked a suspension of collation and subsequently, a review at the INEC Headquarters in Abuja.

- That there was alleged forgery with respect to the NYSC Certificate of Otti.

On 6th October 2023, the Justice Hajaratu Gwadah-led tribunal dismissed the petition. The held that the hip of Otti in the Labour Party is a pre-election matter and the Courts have no jurisdiction to dabble into it.

The also held that the claim of alleged forgery of Otti's NYSC was not proven beyond reasonable doubts. Justice Gwadah also held that the NYSC is not a qualifying or disqualifying factor for a Candidate who intends to contest the office of a Governor in Nigeria.

The averred that the witnesses of the Petitioners did not speak to the documents hence, held no circumstantial value. "The Petitioners separately and collectively did not show evidence that the results were doctored in Abuja before it returned to the State, hence the claim is hearsay and ought to be discountenanced."

Not happy with the outcome, the PDP & APC together with their respective Candidates appealed the separate judgements of the tribunal.

The Appeal Court held that the Petitions brought forth by the appellants can be likened to a comedy skit brought into a democratic setting.

They held that the hip of Otti is a domestic affair of the Labour Party. They held that Otti ed the LP, contested the Party's Primary, won and was further duly sponsored by the Party.

On the issues of Bimodial Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, brought by the PDP & Ahiwe, the Appeal Court said the appellants failed to demonstrate or link their documentary evidence to the specific parts of the case.

The three-man upheld in toto the tribunal verdict and further dismissed the separate appeals for having no scintilla of merit.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.vanguardngr.com/2023/12/appeal-court-affirms-ottis-election-as-abia-governor-pdp-calls-for-calm/amp/

The judiciary is working 100% as it should.

Kudos to the Nigerian Judiciary and Kudos to President Tinubu for ensuring the judicial arm of government is independent of the Executive and Legislature.

Lol

Court can do anything yet

The winning was clear as day

fergie001:


https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.vanguardngr.com/2023/12/appeal-court-affirms-ottis-election-as-abia-governor-pdp-calls-for-calm/amp/

Congratulations Sir

AS E DE HOT!

Democracy is no longer in danger

Where are the #AllEyesOnJudiciary people ?


Abi una go still say the court belong to APC again?


President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will insha Allah perform beyond your expectations.


Instead make una dey pray for solutions, na the problems and blunder una dey find up and down...SMH

They dnt want repetition of kano state in abia

Once Olanikpekun is the legal team leader. Forget it because it's a done game.

fergie001:


https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.vanguardngr.com/2023/12/appeal-court-affirms-ottis-election-as-abia-governor-pdp-calls-for-calm/amp/

Now democracy is working for the wailers.

Alex Chioma Otti is abia and is him the indigenous peoples of abia state want for governor

Nigerian judiciary is cruise indeed. Same or very similar fact/issues with Kano Governorship petition. there the judiciary say is negative while here they say is positive. Indeed justice is equity

APc Appeal Court would have taken Abia too..

It's already obvious..
no need , we know what's up

Kano next

Why is APC and PDP wasting their money on court case in Abia State?
One thing I know for sure is that their journey to Supreme Court is going to bring the same result. Otti should continue doing his best and not change.

The judiciary is working now but if it was the reverse, the judiciary would have been scam😂😂

The also held that the claim of alleged forgery of Otti's NYSC was not proven beyond reasonable doubts. Justice Gwadah also held that the NYSC is not a qualifying or disqualifying factor for a Candidate who intends to contest the office of a Governor in Nigeria.

Alex Otti forged his NYSC certificate but the court dismissed the matter because it was not proved beyond reasonable doubt and NYSC certificate is not a qualifying factor for a candidate contesting for governor. This was the same judgement the tribunal gave in the case of Governor Mbah of Enugu state vs the Labour Party candidate. Obidients descended on the tribunal judges and called them unprintable names while they saw nothing wrong in this judgement that gave victory to Alex Otti.

This goes to further expose the hypocrisy of Peter Obi and his senseless ers. They don’t care about justice or the rule of law. They just want to use all means to grab power. Once they don’t get their way, they descend on the institution as a mob.

no ibo man will be president

Now we no go hear noise

ok

Na only apc & pdp dey naija so...

adamusuleiman1:
The judiciary is working 100% as it should.

Kudos to the Nigerian Judiciary and Kudos to President Tinubu for ensuring the judicial arm of government is independent of the Executive and Legislature.

Oga shup it no come put sand for garri for us

Don't listen to criminals. Don't waste time on Nigerian Politics


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now the judiciary has not been bastadized

One appeal court will rule that the issue of party hip is a family affair, but some others will sack governors like plateau and kano based on same issue.
This country is horrible