JUST IN: Tribunal upholds Alex Otti’s election as Abia governor

The Abia State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Umuahia has upheld the victory of Dr. Alex Otti, governor of the state, in the March 18 election.

The tribunal in its ruling on Friday, dismissed cases filed by both the PDP and APC challenging the outcome of the election.

In a unanimous judgement, the three member panel led by justice H.T.D. Gwadah, dismissed the petition for lacking merit and affirmed Otti as the duly elected governor of Abia State.

Justice Gwadah held that on the issue of whether Dr. Otti was qualified to contest the election, the arguments of the petitioners were pre- election matters which the tribunal lacked jurisdiction to entertain.

He also pointed out that the petitioners failed to provide evidence on the allegation of forgery of NYSC certificate leveled against Dr. Otti and could therefore, not prove their case, while noting that NYSC was also not a factor for qualifying or disqualifying a candidate.

The tribunal insisted that no witness called by the petitioners spoke on documents tendered to prove their allegation of over voting, which made the documents to be of no value, just as the petitioners failed to prove their claim that the result of Obingwa Local Government Area was taken to Abuja where it was allegedly doctored before being brought back to Abia to be declared.

They therefore dismissed the petition for lacking in merit.