The governorship election petition tribunal sitting in Owerri the Imo State capital Wednesday dismissed the petition filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in the state Chief Emeka Ihedioha challenging the victory of Governor Rochas Okorocha in the last governorship election.
Delivering the judgment the Chairman of the tribunal Justice David Wyom dismissed the petition on the grounds that the petitioner abandoned their petition having failed to pay for the pre-hearing notice within the seven days stipulated in paragraph 18 (1) of the rule guiding election petition proceedings.
Justice Wyom went ahead to state that the petitioner applied on 23rd of June but, however, failed to make payment for the pre-hearing notice until 3rd of July which is outside the seven days provided by law and on the strength of the Supreme Court authority on this issue, the validity of the process starts from when the pre-hearing notice payment was made and not when it was applied which in turn means the petitioner paid out of time but applied within time. Fee for the pre-hearing notice is N100.
Counsel to Governor Okorocha and the All Progressives Congress (APC) Adeniyi Akintola (SAN) had moved a motion for the tribunal to dismiss the Chief Emeka Ihedioha’s petition on the grounds that they have abandoned their petition having paid outside of the stipulated time.
On his path, the counsel to Hon Emeka Ihedioha, Chief Mike Ahamba (SAN) described the ruling as an embarrassment.
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