Supreme Court Affirms Akobundu’s Election, Seals Nwokocha, LP’s Fate
The Supreme Court in a final determination, this afternoon, further affirmed Senator Austin Akobundu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the winner of the Abia Central Senatorial election.
The Apex Court dismissed the Motion filed by Hon. Darlington Nwokocha of the Labour Party (LP) seeking the review of the judgment of the Court of Appeal which nullified his return by the Independent National Election Commission (INEC) on the ground that he was not duly nominated by his party for the election.
Recall that the Court of Appeal had last Friday thrown out the motion by Nwokocha, seeking to reverse its earlier judgement which sacked him and upheld Senator Akobundu as duly elected senator representing Abia Central in the Senate. The Appeal Court had awarded N5 million cost to be paid to Senator Akobundu by Hon. Nwokocha.
Despite knowing that the Appeal Court is the Court of final jurisdiction on National Assembly matters, Hon. Nwokocha approached the Supreme Court seeking it to reverse the judgment of the Court of Appeal.
The Supreme Court this afternoon dismissed Hon. Nwokocha’s motion thus bringing his bid to unseat Senator Akobundu to an end. The Apex Court also awarded a fine of N2m against Hon. Nwokocha, bringing the total cost he is to pay to Senator Akobundu to N7m.
