The Supreme Court has affirmed Dr Alex Otti of the Labour Party (LP) as the valid winner of the governorship election held in Abia State on March 18.
The unanimous decision by a five-member panel of justices dismissed two separate appeals seeking to nullify Otti’s election victory.
Justice Uwani Abba-Aji, delivering the lead judgment, stated that the appeals brought by the candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Okey Ahiwe, and the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Ikechi Emenike, lacked merit.
Dockaysworld gathered that the Supreme Court upheld the concurrent findings of the Abia State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal and the Court of Appeal, which had earlier affirmed Otti’s election.
The court emphasized that Otti’s nomination and sponsorship by the Labour Party were internal matters, and the law forbade courts from meddling in the domestic affairs of political parties.
It dismissed arguments that Otti was not a bona fide member of the LP at the time of the election, highlighting the immateriality of such claims.
Furthermore, the Supreme Court held that the PDP and its candidate lacked the legal standing to challenge Otti’s nomination, as doing so would be akin to “crying more than the bereaved.”
