The governorship election petition tribunal sitting in Umuahia, Abia State capital, has upheld the victory of Governor Alex Otti of the Labour Party.

The tribunal dismissed the petitions filed by Ikechi Emenike of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Okey Ahaiwe of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who had challenged Otti’s election. Delivering judgement on Ahiwe’s petition yesterday in Umuahia, the chairman of the three-member tribunal, Justice H.D.D. Gwada, said it lacked merit.

Similarly, Justice Omolara Adeyemi said Emenike failed to prove his allegation of none compliance with the Electoral Act and having scored the highest number of valid votes.

In his reaction, the APC chairman in the state, Dr. Kingsley Ononogbu, rejected the judgement, describing it as a miscarriage of justice and unacceptable.

“We condemn unequivocally the judgement of the tribunal. Consequently, we have mandated our legal team to appeal the judgement immediately ,” he said. In the same manner, the PDP vice chairman and publicity secretary, Abraham Amah said, having rejected the judgement, the PDP had conferred with its team of lawyers on the outcome.

“And based on our understanding that the learned justices erred, we are appealing the judgement as a means to correct the wrongs by the election tribunal,” he said. LP chairman, Ceeksy Igara and the member for Ohafia South constituency in the state House of Assembly, Kalu Mba Nwoke, welcomed the judgements.