The Ebonyi South senatorial candidate of the Labour Party, Linus Okorie, has rejected the judgement of the election petition tribunal that was in favour of the former governor of the state, David Umahi, of the All Progressives Congress.
Media Talk Africa recalls that the Ebonyi State National and State Assembly Election Petition Tribunal, sitting in Abuja, had, in its unanimous judgement delivered on Friday, dismissed Okorie’s petition for failure to prove his allegation of corruption and noncompliance with the electoral law as amended.
Media Talk Africa reports that the three members of the tribunal unanimously declared Umahi, who is now Minister of Works, the winner of the 2023 Ebonyi South senatorial election.
Okorie, however, in a statement signed and made available to newsmen in Abakaliki, the capital of Ebonyi State, said: “I disagree with that decision, even as I respect it. I disagree with the decision because it neither served justice, reflected the evidence presented, the electoral law, nor the expressed will of the electorate of Ebonyi South.”
Okorie insisted that the minimum expected of justice in the circumstances of that election was to declare it inconclusive and order a supplementary election.
“Whatever motivated the tribunal to so flagrantly ignore the weighty evidence before it, especially certified true copies of INEC results and the unambiguous provisions of Section 137 of the Electoral Act 2022 in the circumstances, is best known to them,” he stated.
He vowed to appeal the judgement, saying: “I have mandated my lawyers to appeal the judgement. This truncation of the will of the people, commenced by INEC in Ebonyi South, shall not be allowed to stand.”
