APPEAL COURT AFFIRMS PROF IBE AS ABIA APGA GUBER CANDIDATE

The Court of Appeal sitting in Owerri Friday afternoon reconfirmed the nomination of Prof Gregory Ibe as the validly elected candidate of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in Abia State in the forthcoming governorship election of 11 March 2023.

Delivering the lead judgment in the appeal brought before it by General Ijioma N Ijioma, an aspirant in the APGA guber primary election of May 29,2022, Justice S.A Bola upheld the seven counts of contention that necessitated the suit, stating that the appellant failed to prove the allegation of unfair hearing by the lower court.

According to him Gen Ijioma was unable to convince the court beyond every reasonable doubt about the culpability of the lower court on the contentious counts of alleged double membership of both APGA and PDP by Prof Ibe, participation in two primaries, the desired rejection of the peace pact document signed by him prior to the election as evidence, among other pleadings.

Having therefore resolved all the contentious issues in favour of Prof Ibe, the appellate court subsequently sustained the earlier verdict of Umuahia High Court which had in December 2022 declared him validly elected as the governorship candidate of APGA for the Abia state 2023 guber election.

Judicial correspondents report that Gen Ijioma had approached the appellate court to set aside the judgment of Umuahia Federal High Court on the allegation of unfair hearing.