Ihedioha had challenged the earlier dismissal of his petition at the Governorship
Election Petition Tribunal, which threw out his petition for improper filling.
Delivering the judgment in the crowded court, the Chairman of the Appeal Panel,
Justice Jimmy Bada, said that the appeal was dismissed on grounds of improper
service of summons on the respondents, whose addresses were not properly listed.
Justice Bada further explained that the issue of service was fundamental in law and
the rules of the Court of Appeal and therefore struck out the case for lack of merit.
However, reacting to the judgment, Counsel to Ihedioha, Mike Ahamba (SAN), said,
“We referred to the provision of the law and rules that say that the addresses of
those directly affected should be listed in the appeal. I have done appeals in the
past but I am surprised that the rule is different in election matters.
“We had a good ground for appeal but for the shortcoming in the service, the
substantive matter is still in our favour. We are not done yet, we still have another
tier to go.”
The counsel to Okorocha, Miletus Nnebedim, said that the Court of Appeal had
reviewed the appeal filed by the PDP and found out it incompetent because it did not
comply with the requirements of the Court of Appeal rules.
Okorocha commended the Appeal Court for upholding the ruling of the Election
Petition Tribunal, adding that the judgment had justified his confidence in the ability
of the judiciary to uphold justice and also “respect the popular and lawful actions of
the people over who would govern them at any given time”.
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