Court of Appeal affirms senator Ekweremadu’s election – TheNigerialawyer

The Court of Appeal, Enugu Division on Tuesday affirmed the
election of Sen. Ike Ekweremadu of the Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP) in the Feb. 23 Senatorial election for Enugu West zone.

In a unanimous judgment delivered by the panel chaired by
Justice I.M. Salawu, the court dismissed the appeal filed by Mrs
Juliet Ibekaku-Nwagwu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for
lacking in merit.

The court held that the appellants failed to prove allegations
of non-compliance to the Electoral Act and as such were not
entitled to the reliefs sought.

News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the National and State
Assembly Elections Petitions Tribunal that sat in Enugu had on
Sept. 9, upheld the election of Ekweremadu.

Dissatisfied with the judgment of the trial court,
Ibekaku-Nwagwu approached the appellate court with sundry
allegations that bother on non-compliance to the Electoral Act.

The appellant alleged incidences of over voting as well as
announcement of result by the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC) while collation was still ongoing.

However, the appellate court, while upholding the decision of
the trial court held that the appeal anchored on the refusal of the
tribunal to nullify the elections in the 824 polling units of the
zone failed woefully.

The court said that the winner of the election cannot have his
election nullified on the allegations that the result sheet of the
election was not dated.

The court awarded N50, 000 costs against the appellants in
favour of each of the respondents which include the PDP, INEC and
Ekweremadu.

Meanwhile, Ibekaku-Nwagwu has thanked her supporters for their
loyalty and faith while her attempt to represent them at the Red
Chambers lasted.

Reacting to the judgment, the presidential aide, said that she
had accepted the verdict of the court in good fate.

“In every situation we give thanks to the Almighty God and as
law abiding citizens and good sportsmen, we have accepted the
verdict of the Appeal Court.

“We will all go back to the trenches because the senatorial seat
of Enugu West will come to the APC in 2023,” she said.

Ibekaku-Nwagwu said that she would, henceforth, dedicate her
time to assisting the Attorney General of the Federation in his
ongoing judicial reforms to ensure that President Muhammadu Buhari
succeeded.

“With my recent appointment as the Special Assistant to the
President on Justice Reform and International Relation, my
preoccupation now is to help President Muhammadu Buhari to
succeed.

“What Mr President needs now is not distraction but necessary
support that would make him succeed,” Ibekaku-Nwagwu said.
(NAN)