JUST IN: Appeal Court Affirms Ikenga Ugochinyere’s Victory

Court of Appeal has affirmed the election of the House of Representatives member for Ideato North and South Federal Constituency of Imo State, Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere.

Gatekeepers News reports that the Appeal Court panel led by Justice Abubakar Babandi Gumel in Lagos, set aside the ruling of the Tribunal which had sacked Ugochinyere.

The election petition tribunal which delivered the judgement on September 10th in Mararaba High Court had ruled that Ugochinyere’s PDP was no candidate for the election because there were no primaries in the Federal Constituency.

The panel also directed the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to conduct rerun election Calls in 4 Wards between APC and LP candidates.

However, a unanimous judgment delivered by Gumel on Wednesday overruled the judgments of the tribunal.

Gumel held that the petition was a pre-election matter and as such, the tribunals lacked jurisdiction over pre-election matters.