Imo West: Appeal Court Affirms Uzodinma’s Election

The Court of Ap­peal sitting in Ow­erri, Imo State, on Friday
dismissed the petition filed by Os­ita Izunaso of the All Progressives
Congress (APC), challenging the election of Senator Hope Uzodinma as
the senator representing Imo West in the April 11, 2015 National
As­sembly Election and af­firmed the election of Uzodinma.

Izunaso had approached the Appeal Court to upturn the verdict of the
National/ State House of Assembly Election Tribunal in Ow­erri
presided over by Justice Ali Garba from Yobe State, which dismissed
his case for lack of merit.

At the tribunal, the 3-mem­ber panel in a unanimous de­cision held
that Izunaso failed to prove that there were no elections in three
local gov­ernment areas of the senatori­al district, namely, Oru-East,
Oguta and Ohaji-Egbema and consequently threw out the matter.

The tribunal relied on the uncontroverted evidence led by the
respondents in proof of the election of April 11, 2015 and further
held that the petitioner failed to prove that the first respondent
(Senator Hope Uzodimma) did not score the majority of the law­ful
votes cast in the election. It also held that the Izunaso failed to
prove that he scored the majority of the lawful votes in the said
election.

During the tribunal trial, the parties testified and called witnesses,
which the panel distilled the evidence presented before it by both
parties and came to the con­clusion that the evidence of the
respondents were more credible and accordingly confirmed the
overwhelm­ing victory of Senator Hope Uzodinma.

But undeterred, Izunaso took the matter to the Appeal Court, which
again dismissed the case and upheld the elec­tion of Uzodinma.

It would be recalled that the petition by the APC can­didate was
earlier dismissed before another tribunal head­ed by Justice A. Y.
Sanya, which held that the petitioner, Izunazo, abandoned his
peti­tion by failing to pay the ap­propriate filling fees for
pre-hearing.

The tribunal therefore de­clared that for failing to pay the
appropriate fees as re­quired by law, Izunaso had abandoned his
petition and that there was consequently no petition before it.

However, Izunaso took the matter to the Appeal Court in Owerri, Imo
State which ruled that the case should be heard on its merit. But
again, he failed.

Reacting to the ruling, an elated Senator Hope Uzodin­ma attributed
the victory to the will of God and the over­whelming confidence his
constituents reposed in him.

He said that throughout the duration of the trial, he had absolute
confidence in the judicial system and the will of God and most
importantly, the firm conviction that the will of the people must
pre­vail.

-TheSunNews