Supreme Court declares Ifeanyi Odii as Ebonyi PDP governorship flagbearer

The Supreme Court has declared Ifeanyi Odii as the 2023 governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ebonyi State.

In a lead judgment of a five-member panel headed by Justice Amina Augie, the apex court held that Odii is the authentic governorship candidate of the opposition party and not Senator Joseph Ogba.

The court ruled that the lawmaker representing Ebonyi Central Senatorial District lacked the legal right to have filed an appeal before the court.

It also restored the judgment of the Federal High Court delivered on June 7, 2022, which the Court of Appeal had set aside in its July 19 judgment.

The court held that the Court of Appeal was without jurisdiction to have heard the appeal filed by Ogba, because the notice of appeal filed on June 17, 2022, was incompetent.

It stated that Ogba failed to first obtain the leave of court to appeal as an interested party.

The apex court further held that the incompetence of Ogba’s notice of appeal robbed the Court of Appeal of the requisite jurisdiction.

It ruled that and as such, all the proceedings conducted amounted to a nullity, including the order made in the July 19 judgment setting aside the June 7 judgment of the Federal High Court, which had upheld Odii’s nomination.

The apex court also struck out the cross-appeal filed by Ogba.