Appeal Court upholds Victor Umeh’s election

The Court of Appeal, Enugu yesterday upheld the election of Victor Umeh of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) as representative of Anambra Central senatorial district in the National Assembly.

In a unanimous judgment, the appellate court dismissed Nkem Ekweozor’s appeal challenging the ruling of the Anambra Central Senatorial Election Petition Tribunal, which upheld Umeh’s victory in the January 13, 2018 rerun.

Ekweozor, who was the Mega Peoples Progressives Party (MPPP)’s candidate in the rerun, had claimed that Umeh was not duly elected by majority votes cast during the election, adding that the exercise was marred by irregularities.

He also alleged that Umeh was not qualified to contest the election, as he got his nomination when he was still the National Chairman of APGA.

The appellant who joined Umeh, APGA and Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the first, second and third respondents respectively, prayed the court to order INEC to conduct a fresh election and that Umeh should be disqualified from that election.