The Court of Appeal has thrown away the appeal filed by Solomon Wombo, candidate of the All Progressives Congress for House of Representatives seat in Katsina-Ala/Ukum/Logo Federal Constituency in Benue challenging the victory of Richard Gbande of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
PDP’s Gbande had defeated the candidate of the APC in the election as declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
However, Wombo and his party claimed that Gbande’s election was not credible, alleging that there were cases of over-voting. They also claimed that the election was marred with violence and intimidation and asked the court to upturn the elections.
The case they proved at the Election Petition Tribunal but got unfavorable judgement.
However, in a ruling delivered on Friday, October 25, the Court of Appeal sitting in Makurdi affirmed Gbande’s election and dismissed Wombo and APC’s petition, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.
The lead judge, Justice J. E. Ekanem upheld the tribunal’s decision, ruling that Wombo’s appeal lacked merit, adding that the petitioners failed to prove their allegations.
The APC and its candidate are yet to react to the verdict as at the time of filing this report.
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