The court of appeal sitting in Abuja, has over the weekend struck out the petition filed by the former Chief of Staff to former Rivers State governor, Chief Chibuike Amaechi, Chief Tony Okocha of the All Progressives Congress, (APC) on the ground that it lacked merit and was incompetent.
Chief Okocha had gone to the court of Appeal to challenge the decision of the Tribunal which dismissed his petition on the ground that it was filed outside the stipulated 21 days required by law to challenge the victory of Okey Chinda of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the Obio-Akpor Federal constituency seat.
One issue brought before the court was whether or not the Tribunal was right to have considered the issue of jurisdiction without going into the trial of the merit of the petition; the court of Appeal said the tribunal was right in doing so.
On the issue of whether or not they filed the petition out of time; the court of Appeal said the tribunal was right in deciding that the petition was filed out of time and the Appeal was dismissed.
This verdict has put to an end all legal issues regarding the Obio-akpor Federal constituency.
