Appellate Court Upholds Elections Of PDP Candidates

Former Leader of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Chidi Lloyd, of the All Progressives Congress, APC, lost his appeal following the unanimous judgement delivered by the Appeal Court, today, Thursday, September 22, 2016, upholding the election of Hon Sam Ogeh of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, for the Emohua State Constituency.

Similarly, the Appeal Court has dismissed appeals filed by Sir Collins A. N. Owhonda and Eric Apia, all of the All Progressives Congress, who were respectively challenging the elections of Mrs. Blessing Nsiegbe and Hon Martins Mannah of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

Also dismissed is the appeal filed by the All Progressives Congress candidate for Obio/Akpo Constituency 1, Mr. Collins Ordu, against the election of the Leader of the State Assembly and PDP candidate, Hon Martins A. Amaewhule.

The Appeal Court, while upholding the elections of Hon. Amaewhule, of Obio/Akpo Constituency 1, Hon. Martins Manna of Ahoada East, State Constituency 2 and Blessing Nsiegbe of Port Harcourt Federal Constituency 2, stated that the various petitions by the respective APC candidates lacked merit and therefore dismissed them accordingly.

These latest judgments by the Appellate Court come few days after a resounding victory by Hon. Okechukwu Kingsley Chinda of the PDP over Mr. Tony Okocha of the APC for the Obio/Akpo Federal Constituency I at the Appeal Court.

Mr. Chidi Lloyd and his APC colleagues, who lost in the March 19, 2016, Re-run Legislative Assembly Elections in the State, had approached the Elections Petition Tribunal, seeking the nullification of the elections results which produced the various PDP candidates as duly elected representatives of their Constituencies.

Meanwhile, celebrating these victories, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, State Chairman, Bro Felix Obuah, again described the development as a vindication of the PDP, as well as confirmation that the people of the state actually voted for the PDP and are in love with the party.

Bro Obuah again congratulated all the courageous and unperturbed PDP candidates on their electoral victories, urging them to remain steadfast as they have always been, and to begin to roll out their best for the people of the land, as the deliberate efforts by their opponents to distract them have been punctured by the court.

The Rivers PDP Chairman expressed happiness that “in the face of all these distractive undertakings by the APC folks, the leadership of the party and the government in the state have remained focused and committed in delivering the dividends of democracy to Rivers people and all Nigerians.

“We hope that in the coming days, all arms of government in the state will be at their best and Rivers people will not regret giving us their mandate. We would therefore, appeal to Mr. Chidi Lloyd and the APC leaders to join hands with our performing governor, Chief Nyesom Wike in moving the state forward, rather than making efforts to pull down the fast developing state.”