The Court of Appeal in Lagos had upheld the election of Governor Francis Nwifuru of Ebonyi state.
.Nwifuru ran under the banner of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the March 18 governorship election, and was declared winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
His victory in the contested election had earlier been affirmed by the state Election Petition Tribunal. in September.
Before the appellate court ruling on Friday, the Ebonyi helmsman had alluded his rise to the highest office in the state to God, saying he was a former mechanic helped by divinity.
He made the comment last week after some critics said he’s likely to lose his position because he was allegedly wrongly nominated by his party, APC, as governorship candidate.
In their ruling on Friday, the three-man panel of the Appeal Court, presided over by Justice Jummai Sankey, dismissed the appeal filed by Chukwuma Odii of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP), against the validity of Nwifuru’s election.
The panel resolved all five issues raised by the PDP in favour of Nwifuru, ruling that the appeal lacked merit and should be dismissed.
Justice Sankey who red the lead judgment said their verdict was premised on the fact that the issue of nominating a candidate is an internal matter for the APC.
