The Supreme Court on Thursday affirmed the election of Pastor Umo Eno of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the validly elected governor of Akwa Ibom State following the dismissal of the appeals of the three parties challenging the outcome of the 18th March 2023 election.
This comes after the apex court panel, led by Justice Uwani Abba-Aji, dismissed the appeals of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Young Progressives Party (YPP) and the Action Alliance (AC) based on the non-qualification of the governor over allegations of certificate forgery, which the governor denied.
The Court of Appeal had upheld the judgement dismissing the suit challenging the primary that produced Eno as the PDP candidate.
The appellants had prayed the court to disqualify Eno on grounds that he allegedly forged a West African Examination Certificate (WAEC) which he submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the election.
The appellate court had dismissed the suit for want of merit and awarded N15 million against the plaintiff.
The judge ruled that the appellants’ arguments were based on assumption and that he was unable to prove to the court that Eno’s certificates were forged.
The apex court also reserved judgement in the appeal filed by Hon. Oladipupo Adebutu challenging the majority judgement of the Court of Appeal that affirmed the election of Prince Dapo Abiodun as governor of Ogun state
A five-member panel of the apex court, led by Justice John Okoro, adjourned for judgement after the parties argued and adopted their processes.
Adebutu is asking the court to set aside the election because INEC had initially cancelled elections in 99 polling units and consequently ordered that fresh elections, be conducted in those polling units.
The electoral body then went ahead to declare Abiodun the winner of the 18th March 2023 election, disregarding the margin of the vote.
The governor had won the election with 13,000 votes and the votes from the cancelled polling units were 44,000.
