Nwosu vs Ihedioha: Appeal Court orders AA back to Tribunal

A five-member panel of the Court of Appeal sitting in Owerri has set aside a ruling of the Imo State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal, striking off the name of the Action Alliance (AA) from the petition filed by their candidate, Ugwumba Uche Nwosu in the 2019 governorship election.

The tribunal had on June 23 granted the request of AA to withdraw from the petition.

The party had, in a letter dated May 27 and sighted by its Legal Adviser, Anaukyaa Peter, requested its counsel, Okey Ehieze, to discontinue his appearance in the suit no: EPT/OW/GOV/IM/02/2019, in which AA is the second petitioner.

But the panel of the appellate court presided by Justice Mojeed Adekunle Owoade, unanimously agreed that the tribunal was misled into granting the prayers of a faction of the Action Alliance, requesting to be struck off from the petition, as the processes neither followed laid down procedures, nor served the interest of justice.

The panel therefore ordered the tribunal to immediately reinstate the Action Alliance as a petitioner in the matter.