APC vows to appeal Ekweremadu’s victory at tribunal

The All Progressives Congress (APC) says it will appeal the victory of former Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, at the National and State House of Assembly Elections Petitions Tribunal in Enugu.

Chairman of the party in the state, Ben Nwoye, disclosed this on Tuesday in an interview, while reacting to the judgment of the tribunal affirming the victory of the senator.

The candidate of the APC in Enugu West Senatorial District in the February 23 general elections, Mrs. Juliet Ibekaku-Nwagwu, had approached the tribunal following the return of Sen. Ekweremadu as the winner of the poll.

In its judgement delivered on September 9, the tribunal struck out the petition on the ground that the petitioners failed to prove their case beyond all reasonable doubt and affirmed the victory of Sen. Ekweremadu.

Nwoye, however, said that necessary steps have already been taken to appeal the decision of the tribunal which he described as a ‘template judgement’.

He said that the party is disappointed at the decision of the tribunal after the party’s legal team had put up a formidable argument to prove their case.

“We are shocked that the case turned out this way in spite of the overwhelming evidence we adduced,” he said.

Nwoye commended the petitioners’ legal team for putting up a good fight at the tribunal.

The petitioners’ counsel, Patrick Luke, said that his clients have instructed him to appeal the judgment.

Luke said that the petitioners did all they could to prove their case, “but the trial court decided otherwise. We have an instruction from our clients to appeal the judgment.

“There are fundamental errors in the judgment. We shall study it and respond accordingly.” (NAN)