Appeal Court affirms Ikenga Ugochinyere’s victory, upturns sack

Led by Justice Abubakar Babandi Gumel, the Appeal Court panel  set aside the ruling of the Tribunal, which had nullified Ugochinyere’s election.

The Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Mararaba High Court had ruled that Ugochinyere’s party, the PDP, had no candidate for the election because there were no primaries in the Federal Constituency.

The panel which delivered the judgement on September 10th, also directed the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to conduct rerun election Calls in 4 Wards between APC and LP candidates.
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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.