TheCable

The court of appeal in Abuja on Tuesday dismissed several appeals challenging the victory of Emeka Ihedioha, governor of Imo state, in the March 9 election.

The first appeal was filed by Uche Nwosu, governorship candidate of Action Alliance (AA); Hope Uzodinma of the All Progressive Congress (APC) and Ifeanyi Ararume of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA).

They asked the appellate court to upturn the judgment of the Imo state tribunal which affirmed the victory of Ihedioha as the governor of the state.

The appellants claimed that the governor did not obtain the constitutional one-quarter of the votes in at least two-thirds of the 27 local government areas of the state, in line with section 179 of the Constitution.

They also claimed that the election was marred by irregularities and failure to comply with the electoral act.

However, the five member panel of the appeal court led by Oyebisi Omoleye dismissed the appeals on grounds that they lacked merit.

The court also awarded N500,000 cost against all the appellants in favour of Ihedioha.

In a dissenting judgment, one of the judges rejected the cross-appeal, filed by the governor and ordered him to pay N1m to Uzodinma and the APC.