Court of Appeal dismisses Anyanwu’s suit against Ihedioha

Val Okara, Owerri

The Court of Appeal sitting in Owerri, the Imo state capital on Sunday upheld the judgement of the Federal High Court which dismissed a suit filed by Senator Sam Anyanwu, challenging the emergence of Governor Emeka Ihedioha as the gubernatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Anyanwu had approached the court seeking to nullify the victory of Ihedioha and rather be declared as the authentic winner of the primary election, accusing Ihedioha of engaging in over voting, thuggery and vote buying which he alleged swayed the polls in favour of Ihedioha.

Justice Raphael Chikwe Agbo, in his judgement reaffirmed that the plaintiff could not convince the court on the prayers he sought, adding that from the allegations made by Anyanwu, the court could not establish the facts in his claims and therefore, dismissed the suit for lack of proof.

It would be recalled that the Governor Ihedioha on the party’s primary election conducted in Owerri on October 1, polled 1, 723 to defeat Sam Anyanwu, who scored 1, 282 votes.

Sen. Anyanwu rejected the result of the primary election while five other aspirants, Senator Athan Achonu, Prof. Jude Njoku, Chief Chukwuma, Ekomaru and Chief George Ejike congratulated Ihedioha on his victory and went ahead to work for his victory at the governorship poll.

Meanwhile, Governor Ihedioha has extended the olive branch to Sen Anyanwu to join hands with him to move the state forward and further restated his resolve to run an inclusive government.