The Supreme Court has affirmed the election of Enugu State Governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi.
In a lead judgement on Friday in Abuja, the court affirmed Ugwuanyi’s victory and dismissed the appeal filed by Senator Ayogu Eze challenging the election for lacking in merit.
Senator Eze is a former governorship aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2015 general election in Enugu State.
He had sought to upturn the emergence of Governor Ugwuanyi as the PDP candidate nominated at the party’s primary election held on December 4, 2014.
The lawmaker had also approached the Federal High Court, Abuja, seeking among other reliefs, a declaration that he was the duly elected PDP governorship candidate in Enugu.
In the lead judgment delivered by justice Centus Nweze and unanimously upheld by a five-man panel of the apex court, the court agreed with the Court of Appeal ruling which dismissed Eze’s appeal for lack of merit and locus standi.
The court also said the senator had admitted in his affidavit that he did not participate in the primary election conducted by the National Executive Committee of the PDP.
It then held that the High Court lacked the jurisdiction to entertain the suit ab initio since Senator Eze did not qualify as an aspirant and was therefore not entitled to challenge the outcome of the primary election as provided in section 87 subsection 9 of the Electoral Act.
The apex court also fined the lawmaker for one million naira on the grounds that the issues he raised have been decided on severally and there was no need for him to bring them up again.
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