Gov. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State has recorded another victory in his bid to continue as the helmsman in the state following his victory at the just concluded governorship election.
This came as the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Enugu on Monday struck out the petition filed by Action Peoples Party (APP) challenging the victory of Gov. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi as the winner of the March 9 governorship election in the state.
According to Vanguard, the tribunal, chaired by Justice I. M. Sambo, struck out the petition after entertaining a motion on notice for the withdrawal of the petition. Counsel to the petitioner/applicant, Mr Obed Agu, told the tribunal that the petitioner had resolved to discontinue the process as filed.
He prayed the tribunal to strike out the petition, pursuant to Rule 29, Rules of Procedure of Election Petitions. “The petitioner filed a notice of withdrawal of the petition before the tribunal. “We, therefore, seek the order of the tribunal granting leave to the petitioner/applicant to withdraw the petition in its entirety, and consequential order striking out the petition,” Agu said.
In her submission, Mrs A.J. Offiah (SAN), counsel to the governor and first respondent, said that they had entered appearance after being served with the petition. “We concede that we were served with an application for the withdrawal and dismissal of the petition,” she said.
Offiah said that they had filed and served the petitioner/applicant, an affidavit against illegal terms of withdrawal, adding that they were not opposed to the application. The tribunal consequently dismissed and struck out the petition and awarded no cost to the respondents.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that other counsels present during the sitting are
counsels to Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chief A. I. Ani and Mr Humphrey Okoli respectively.
The Independent National Electoral Commission had declared Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi winner of the governorship election that took place in Enugu State.
According to Channels Television, Ugwuanyi polled 449,935 votes to defeat Ayogu Eze of the APC who polled 10,423 votes.
Enugu State has 17 Local Government Areas where the election took place. The results as announced were also released.
Below are the results from the various local government in Enugu.
Enugu South LGA – PDP: 17,513 APC: 533
Aninri LGA – PDP: 21,450 APC:496
Awgu LGA – PDP: 23,025 APC: 1,232
Ezeagu LGA – PDP: 21,448 APC: 255
Isiuzo LGA – PDP: 19,698 APC: 284
Nkanu West LGA – PDP: 30,698 APC: 243
Igboetiti LGA – PDP: 25,557 APC: 1,223
Oji River LGA – PDP: 22,369 APC: 536
Udenu LGA – PDP: 39,437 APC: 394
Udi LGA – PDP: 25,124 APC: 823
Enugu North LGA – PDP: 15,120 APC: 276
Igboeze North LGA – PDP: 30,666 APC: 1,607
Nsukka LGA – PDP: 51,207 APC: 572
Enugu East LGA – PDP: 22,300 APC: 352
Igboeze South LGA – PDP: 38,326 APC: 705
Uzouwani LGA – PDP: 22,879 APC: 256
Nkanu East LGA – PDP: 23,118 APC: 636
It will be recalled that Governor Ugwuanyi got massive support for his second term bid from different quarters in the run up to the governorship election.
Consequently, his victory at the poll might not have surprised many people. Also, Enugu state is largely a PDP state as the party records overwhelming victory in the state.
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