Supreme Court affirms Odii Ebonyi PDP guber candidate

The Supreme Court, yesterday, affirmed the election of Ifeanyi Odii as the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ebonyi State for next year’s election.

The court set aside the July 19 judgment of the Court of Appeal, which ordered a retrial of the suit between Ifeanyi and Joseph Ogba over the dispute on who was the actual candidate.

In its ruling, the five-member panel of the apex court, headed by Justice Amina Augie, unanimously upheld the appeal filed by Odii challenging the decision of the Appeal Court, which ordered that the matter should be retried.

The apex court restored the judgment of the Federal High Court delivered on June 7, 2022, which the Court of Appeal had set aside in its July 19 judgment.

The court held that the Court of Appeal was without jurisdiction to have heard the appeal filed by Ogba, because the notice of appeal filed by Ogba on June 17, 2022, was incompetent because he failed, to first, obtain the leave of court to appeal as an interested party.

The governorship candidate, Odii, has described the ruling as a victory for the entire Ebonyi people, adding that if elected governor, he would restore the state’s lost glory.