Governor Francis Nwifuru will know his fate as the Ebonyi State Election Petitions Tribunal will on Wednesday deliver judgement on petitions against his victory at the last Governorship election.
Tribunal Secretary, Henry Nwior, who confirmed this said sitting would commence at 9am.
Governor Nwifuru was named the winner of the March 18 election by the Independent National Election Commission (INEC).
In the state’s 13 local councils, Nwifuru received 199,131 votes overall, defeating Ifeanyi of the PDP, who received 80,191 votes.
Nwifuru was also given a Certificate of Return designating him as the next governor by the electoral umpire. On May 29, he was sworn in as governor.
Nevertheless, Bernard Odoh, the second-place finisher, and his party, the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), rejected the outcome and appealed it to a tribunal, as did Odii and his party, the PDP.
Odoh in his petition is seeking Nwifuru’s disqualification on the grounds of certificate forgery and ineligibility to stand for the election.
He urged the tribunal to disqualify Mr Nwifuru who was declared winner of the said election and also to nullify the said Certificate of return issued to him.
Odoh, a geophysics professor, is of the opinion that Nwifuru, at the time of the election was still a member of the PDP and as such was not eligible to be sponsored for the election by the APC.
He averred that Nwifuru therefore was not qualified to contest the election to the office of the Governor of Ebony State as he belonged to two political parties, which he argued is unconstitutional.
