After months of a bitter legal tussle on who is the right candidate for the Peoples Democratic Party in the 2015 governorship election, in Abia State, the Supreme Court has reaffirmed the election of Governor Okezie Ikpeazu.
The three-man panel of the Apex Court agreed with the ruling of the Court of Appeal and struck out Uche Ogah’s appeal, challenging the nomination and election of Ikpeazu.
The five-man panel led by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen, had dismissed the appeal filed by Uchechukwu Ogah for lacking in merit.
The Supreme Court, in its lead judgment prepared by Justice Dattijo Mohammed and delivered by Justice Ejembi Eko, affirmed the substantive decision of the Court of Appeal.
The apex court also held that Ikpeazu as a civil servant, could hardly be found to have flouted tax payments when his tax deductions were at the source.
The apex court disagreed with the appeal court on one issue, holding that contrary to the lower court’s decision, the suit filed before the Federal High Court in Abuja was rightly commenced by an originating summons.
In his post-judgment comment, the CJN noted that there was a security breach” in the course of preparing the judgment.
He also warned politicians to allow the judiciary to do its job without interference.
He said there were attempts by some politicians to use court officials to get to know Justices of the Supreme Court that would prepare the lead judgment and what the court’s decision would be.
He insisted that the incident would be investigated and those culpable would be sanctioned.
Although efforts to speak to Ogah’s camp proved futile, the Judgement has finally put to rest all agitations arising from the Abia Governorship election of 2015.
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