Supreme Court to Hear Ahiwe, Emenike’s Suits Against Gov Otti on Wednesday
The Supreme Court will on Wednesday, January 10, 2024, hear the suits brought by the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the March 18 governorship election in Abia State, Okey Ahiwe, seeking the sack of Governor Alex Otti as governor of the state.
Also, the Court will entertain the matter brought by Ikechi Emenike, the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, who is also seeking the sack of Otti.
Confirming the date to newsmen, Victor Nwokocha, media adviser to Ahiwe, said his principal’s case against Otti would come up for hearing on Wednesday.
Nwokocha, however, said he could not confirm if a final judgement would be delivered on Wednesday or on a later date.
Ahiwe and his party, PDP, in their prayers, are asking the Supreme Court to overrule the judgement of the appeal court, which had upheld Otti’s election and also to declare Ahiwe the Governor.
Also, Emenike of the APC is praying the Court to set aside the ruling of the appeal court, which okayed the election of Otti.
Emenike had, during his appeal court case, challenged the evidence of Otti’s membership of the Labour Party before he was elected governor.
But the case was dismissed by the appellate court as lacking in merit, saying that the matter was a pre-election matter which falls within the jurisdiction of the political party.
PDP and Ahiwe’s suits against Otti were also dismissed at the appeal court for failure to demonstrate or link their documentary evidence on issues of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, to the specific parts of the case.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court had scheduled hearing in 21 appeals in relation to disputes over the last governorship election for this week. The cases relating to Ebonyi, Plateau, Delta, Adamawa Abia, Ogun, Cross River and Akwa Ibom states are to be heard between Monday and Thursday.
It was learnt that the court may render judgments in the already heard post-election governorship appeals on Kano, Lagos and others on Friday.
According to the court’s schedule, sighted late on Sunday, January 7, the apex court plans hearing for Monday in one appeal by the candidate of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), two by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Chukwuma Odii Ifeanyi; and two appeals the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its candidate in Benue state.
