Following months of litigation and counter-litigation, the Supreme Court of Nigeria has finally ruled that Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere is the authentic candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) for the Ideato Federal Constituency election next year.
The judgment by the apex court puts to rest, once and for all, the flurry of litigations and schemings from state and non-state actors, to upturn the mandate freely given to Ikenga by the PDP delegates.
Inferring that there must be an end to litigations and recklessness, the apex court ruled, just like all the lower courts before it, that there are no grounds put before it, to nullify the ticket of the party in the custody of Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere, having fulfilled all the provisions of the law and complied with stipulated guidelines.
Speaking to one of the counsels in the suit, Ibe Ezenwa Esq., he said the Presiding Judge struck out the appeal filed by the appellant, George Igbo for being a mere academic exercise.
He said: “Just as his appeal at the Court of Appeal was struck out for being incompetent, having not complied with certain provisions of the law. For instance at the Court of Appeal, he did not compile his record of appeal or file his brief within the stipulated time. Ikenga Imo then filed a notice of preliminary objection and the Court of Appeal struck out his appeal.”
He noted there is a stipulated time frame for filing appeals and George Igbo and his group waited until it almost elapsed before they filed their application.
Consequently, the Supreme Court deemed the application as unserious and struck out the appeal for being academic and inconsequential under the circumstance.
Accordingly, the apex court declared Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere as the validly nominated and authentic candidate of the PDP for the Ideato Federal Constituency seat election come February 2023, thereby putting an end to all disputation on the matter.
