TheCable

The supreme court, on Wednesday, declared Ifeanyi Odii as the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ebonyi state for the 2023 elections.

In a unanimous judgment delivered on Wednesday, a five-member panel of justices overturned the decision of the court of appeal which ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to recognise Joseph Ogba, senator representing Ebonyi central, as PDP governorship candidate.

The panel, which was led by Amina Augie, held that the appeal marked SC/CV/939/2022, which the appellant lodged before the apex court, had merit.

Odii and Ogba were engaged in a legal battle over who was validly elected in the Ebonyi PDP primaries that took place at different times.

A federal high court in Abakaliki had given judgment in favour of Odii, but the Abuja division of the court of appeal had, in its judgment, declared Ogba as the governorship candidate of the party.

Dissatisfied, Odii filed an appeal marked: SC/CV/939/2022 at the apex court, seeking to overturn the appellate court’s verdict.

Reading the lead judgment on Wednesday, Mohammed Garba said Ogba lacked the legal right to have filed an appeal at the lower court.

He said the Abuja court of appeal lacked the jurisdiction to have entertained the suit in the first instance, since Ogba was not a party in the entire proceedings conducted by the trial court.

The judge also said the entire proceedings conducted by the appellant court was found to be without jurisdiction, and he described it as an exercise in futility.

“You cannot put something on nothing and expect it to stand; it will definitely collapse,” Garba said.