A three-man Appeal Court Tribunal sitting in Enugu, Thursday, struck out the petition brought before it by governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Okey Ezea, in last April 11 governorship election for lack of merit and competence.
Ezea was challenging the declaration by Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, of Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, as winner at the poll.
In a unanimous judgment which lasted for over an hour, the court held that the petitioner’s appeal was not properly signed, adding that it flouted a fundamental procedure in law to sustain the petition.
“The signature of the counsel and name of the counsel who signed the petition was not indicated. Immediately after the signature were names of six legal practitioners and addresses which did not indicate the person that signed the petition.
“It is incurably bad and a fundamental error which makes the application incompetent. Even if the signature was properly signed, the petition still lacks merit and competence.
