The Supreme Court has reserved judgement in the appeal filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its gubernatorial candidate, Okey Ahiwe, challenging the election of Governor Alex Otti of Abia State.
The five-member panel of judges, led by Inyang Okoro, made this decision on Wednesday after considering final arguments from the involved parties.
In a statement by Kazie Uko, the spokesperson for Governor Otti, it was revealed that the PDP’s legal team, headed by the former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, had presented arguments through Uche Ihediuwa, also a SAN and a member of the PDP’s legal team.
During the presentation, Ihediuwa alleged that Mr. Ahiwe was short-changed by over 84,000 votes during the collation of the election results. He claimed that the PDP agent was chased away at the collation center, depriving them of a copy of the results as required by law.
In response, John Owonikoko, SAN, the leader of Governor Otti’s legal team, urged the Supreme Court to dismiss the appeal for lack of merit. Mr. Owonikoko argued that even if the alleged 84,000 votes were added to PDP’s tally, they still wouldn’t win, stating that Mr. Otti garnered over 174,000 votes in the election.
Onyeche Ikpeazu, SAN, the leader of the Labour Party’s legal team, argued that the PDP’s appeal lacked merit. He pointed out irregularities, stating that the results from Obingwa Local Government Area relied upon by the PDP had a stamp of ward collation agent instead of a local government collation agent, as required by law.
Following the arguments, Justice Inyang Okoro announced the reservation of judgement, with the date of delivery to be communicated to the involved parties.
In the background, the Independent National Electoral Commission declared Mr. Otti, the Labour Party (LP) candidate, as the winner of the governorship election in Abia State on March 22, 2023. He polled 175,466 votes, defeating Mr. Ahiwe of the PDP, who scored 88,529 votes. Challenging the victory, Mr. Ahiwe filed another suit at the Supreme Court, leading to the current appeal and the recent reservation of judgement.
