The Ebonyi State National and State Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja has reserved judgment in the petition filed by the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Michael Nnachi; and his Labour Party (LP) counterpart, Linus Okorie, who are challenging the declaration of the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dave Umahi as winner of the Ebonyi South Senatorial seat.
The petitioners are asking the tribunal to nullify the election of the APC candidate on the grounds that the former governor did not score the majority of valid votes cast in the election.
The petitioners are challenging the declaration of Umahi as winner of the poll on the following grounds:
That the APC candidate did not secure the majority of valid votes;
That there was over voting in some polling units; and
That the number of collected Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) in areas where elections were canceled outnumbered the margin of win in the results declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Though the counsel for the LP, Abdulkareem Ibrahim; and the PDP, Tochukwu Maduka believed that the February 25 National Assembly poll that produce Umahi as senator should be nullified, Roy Umahi, counsel for the ex-governor, who is now Minister of Works, did not believe that the petitioners have been able to prove their case before the tribunal
Having adopted their written addresses, all the parties and their supporters can do now is wait for the tribunal to deliver its judgment.
