The Ebonyi State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Abuja, on Wednesday, dismissed the petition filed by Prof. Benard Odoh, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), against Governor Francis Nwifuru of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The three-member panel headed by Justice Lekan Ogunmoye, in the judgment, held that the petitioners lacked the locus standi to institute the action because the issue raised in the petition was an internal affair of the APC.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Nwifuru as winner of the March 18 governorship election in Ebonyi.
Dissatisfied with the outcome, Odoh and APGA filed the petition marked: EPT/EB/GOV/01/2023 against INEC, Francis Ogbonna Nwifuru and APC.
They contended that Nwifuru was illegally nominated by the APC because he was still a member of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) as a Speaker of the House of Assembly when the APC nominated him.
But in its judgment, the tribunal held that APGA failed to appeal a Federal High Court Judgment which confirmed the governor’s defection.
