TheCable

The Abia state governorship election petition tribunal has affirmed Alex Otti as the duly elected governor of the state.

The panel dismissed the petition filed by Okey Ahiwe, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), against the election of Otti.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Otti, candidate of the Labour Party (LP), as the winner of the governorship election in the state.

He polled 175,466 votes to defeat Ahiwe who scored 88,529 votes in the election.

Aggrieved, Ahiwe and his party challenged the outcome of the election at the tribunal.

They contended that Otti was not qualified to run for the election because he was not a registered member of the LP and forged his National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) certificate.

However, in the judgment on Friday, the tribunal led by G. Gwadah held that the petitioners failed to prove their allegations against the respondents.

Gwadah held that the contention over Otti’s qualification to contest the election is a pre-election matter that the tribunal cannot adjudicate on.

He also noted that NYSC was also not a factor in qualifying or disqualifying a candidate.

The chairman of the panel insisted that no witness called by the petitioners spoke on documents tendered to prove their allegation of over-voting which made the documents of no value.

Consequently, the tribunal dismissed the petition and affirmed Otti’s election.