Tribunal Upholds Obiano’s Election, Dismisses Ngige, 3 Others’ Petitions

Amidst a sea of heads that kept surging in and outside the Anambra state Judiciary Headquarters, venue of the Nov 16, 2013 Governorship Election Petitions tribunal, the panel has dismissed the petition of another All Progressives Grand Alliance(APGA) claimant to the governorship ticket, Dr Chike Obidigbo against Gov Willie Obiano.

The tribunal described Dr Obidigbo's petition as a pre-election matter, hence not meant for the tribunal but for a conventional court. It had few weeks ago ruled out the petition in same lines.

Already, Dr Obidigbo confirmed to journalists yesterday that he was headed to Appeal Court immediately to challenge the tribunal judgment.

Also, the Supreme Court would this morning determine an earlier appeal already before it brought by Dr Obidigbo against Obiano on the issue of who is the validly nominated candidate of the party (APGA), an aspect that was earlier struck out by the tribunal.

As at the time of filing this report the tribunal was still reading its judgment on the petitions brought before it by the governorship candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Chris Ngige and the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP candidate, Tony Nwoye.

So far, with only one out of the 3 petitions’ judgments to go, Obiano has carried the day.

The judgment evidently took many citizens by surprise as many were not aware of the date, apparently for security reasons and to reduce the number of party members and observers anticipated to turn up for the event if a long notice was given out.

That notwithstanding, many still managed to rush to the venue to observe it live.