The election petition tribunal sitting in Owerri, the Imo State capital, has affirmed the election of Imo State governor Rochas Okorocha.
The court dismissed the petition filed by the challenger Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party( PDP) in the April 2015 governorship election in the state.
According to chairman of the tribunal, Justice David Wyon, endorsed the contention of the lead counsel to Governor Rochas Okorocha, Chief Adeniyi Akintola(SAN) that the petitioner abandoned the petition having failed to do all he was expected to do after filing including the payment of the approved fee within the time-frame.
Counsel to Governor Okorocha, Chief Akintola had filed a motion to that effect, asking the tribunal to strike out Hon. Ihedioha’s petition on grounds of the serious flaws in the whole exercise.
He anchored his deposition on both the electoral law and the constitution vis-à-vis certain legal authorities, which he cited to back up the motion.
Lead-counsel to Governor Okorocha, Chief Akintola(SAN), told journalist after the verdict that the petition was clear and was dismissed for running short of the provisions of the electoral Act.
According to him, the petition at the tribunal has come to an end unless the petitoner choses to exercise his right to appeal.
“The petitioner filed on June 23, and later went on July 3, 2015 to pay, which was clearly outside the 7 days prescribed by paragraph 18 of first schedule of the Electoral Act, then we latched on that, and then the question was whether the letter for pre-hearing notice without payment was valid and whether the payment made on July 3 , will validate the pre-notice that was submitted. No valid pre-learning notice was filed,”Akintola explained.
