The Abia State Governorship Election Petition tribunal sitting in Umuahia, the state capital has affirmed the election of Alex Otti as the governor of the state.
The three man panel chaired by Justice H. Gwadah delivered the judgement on the petition by Okechukwu Ahiwe of the People’s Democratic Party and Ikechi Emenike of the All Progressives Congress, challenging the election of Governor Otti.
The tribunal held that most of the issues raised by the petitioners in the course of the hearing were not contained in their petition and no application was made to amend the petition.
They were also of the opinion that membership of a party and its primary election are strictly party affairs and therefore non justiceable.
The tribunal considered some of the preliminary objections raised by the parties as premature and consequently dismissed them.
The PDP and the APC had gone to the tribunal to challenge the authenticity of Governor Otti’s membership of Labour Party
Editor Oloyede Oworu
