Tribunal upholds Uzodimma’s election as Imo Governor

Hope Uzodimma’s election as Imo State Governor has been confirmed by the Imo State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal.

The Labour Party (LP) and its governorship candidate, Athan Achonu, filed a petition, but it was denied by the tribunal on Friday in Abuja.

The three-member panel of the tribunal found that Uzodimma’s election as Governor of Imo State met substantially with the provisions of the Electoral Act, according to a unanimous ruling issued by Justice Oluyemi Akintan-Osadebay.

The tribunal also decided that the Labour Party’s petition’s claims of excessive voting and Electoral Act violations lack sufficient evidence.

In the November 11 governorship election in Imo State last year, Uzodimma of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was proclaimed the victor by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

With 540,308 votes, Uzodimma defeated Senator Samuel Anyanwu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), his closest rival with 71,503 votes. Achonu finished third with 64,081 votes. All fifteen other contenders received fewer than 10,000 votes.

Achonu had petitioned the court to remove the governor because he was unhappy with the outcome and claimed that there had been electoral fraud in several areas of the state.