Gov Ugwuanyi gets reprieve as Appeal Court upholds his mandate

The appeal seeking to remove Enugu State’s Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi has been trashed by the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja on Wednesday.

A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, Senator Ayogu Eze, had in an appeal marked CA/A/157/2015 and lodged before the court, prayed that the governor should be removed from office over the allegation that he was illegally nominated by the party to contest the April 11, 2015 governorship election.

But the Appeal Court, in a unanimous judgment by a three-man panel of justices led by Justice Tinuade Akomolafe-Wilson, struck out the appeal on the submission that it lacked merit.

The judgement came after the prayer of Governor Ugwuanyi’s lead counsel, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), who asked the appellate court to dismiss the pre-election case because it lacked merit.

He also filed an appeal marked CA/A/157b/2015, in which he challenged the validity of the parallel primary election in Enugu State which produced Eze as a candidate of the party.

Read also: Katsina Assembly joins impeachment wagon, sacks Speaker

Ruling, the court said that under section 87 of the Electoral Act, that Eze, lacked the locus-standi to challenge Ugwuanyi’s nomination having admitted that he did not participate in the primary that was conducted by the King Asara A. Asara led electoral panel of the PDP.

It also said that the trial at the high court ought to have discharged the case for want of jurisdiction.

The appellate court therefore submitted: “This appeal lacks merit and is hereby dismissed. There is no order as to cost. The decision of the trial court is hereby upheld. However, in view of the fact that the trial court lacked the jurisdiction to entertain the case in the first place, the appeal is therefore, accordingly struck out.”

 

 

 

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