Chris, Ifeanyi Ubah gets edgy, Appeal Court reserves judgement

The two parties to the election dispute before the Court of Appeal, Enugu Division, Chris Uba and Ifeanyi Uba may have to wait longer to know their fate, as the Court on Friday reserved judgement in the appeal brought before it by Chris Uba.

The National and State House of Assembly Elections Petitions Tribunal in Awka had in its judgment on Sept. 9, 2019 affirmed Ifeanyi of the Young Progrssives Party (YPP) as dully elected, while dismissing the prayers of Chris Uba of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)

Chris Uba approached the appellate court through his counsel, Chief Akinolu Jime (SAN), contending that there was a miscarriage of justice at the tribunal.

In his submission before the court, Jime said that the tribunal failed to consider all the exhibits tendered before it while arriving at its judgment.

According to him, the failure of the tribunal to appreciate the case made by the appellant bordering on improper accreditation has to be addressed, adding that the three major documents upon which the election result was anchored such as the card reader, voters register and Form EC8A1 had different figures.

He prayed the court to declare his client winner of the February 23 Senatorial election on the ground that the YPP candidate was wrongly declared winner.

In his own submission, counsel to the respondent, Chief D. C. Nwigwe, urged the court to discountenance the submissions of the appellant, dismiss the appeal and uphold the decision of the election petition tribunal.

The Chairman of the Appeal Panel, Justice I. M. Saluwa, after listening to the counsel, reserved judgment in the matter to a date to be communicated to all the parties.