PDM’s suit seeking to cancel Ebonyi governorship polls thrown out by tribunal

The suit filed by the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM) and its candidate, Chief Ajah Agha seeking to nullify the 2019 governorship election in Ebonyi State, has been thrown out by the Election Petition Tribunal sitting in the state capital of Abakaliki.

The tribunal presided over by Justice A.B Abdulkareem, while delivering its judgment, held that the PDM failed to prove that it conducted primaries and submitted the name of its candidate in line with the provisions of the Electoral Act.

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Justice Abdulkareem also observed that the petitioners which sought the nullification of the election on the grounds that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) unlawfully excluded its name in the ballot papers, did not conduct its governorship primary within the stipulated time, and thus dismissing the petition for lacking in merit.

He said: “Based on the overwhelming evidence adduced before us, it is crystal clear that no valid and authentic primaries were conducted which produced the second petitioner as an unopposed governorship candidate of the first petitioner.”

Recall that the election produced Chief David Umahi of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as governor having polled the highest valid votes and met other requirements of the electoral law.

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