Posted by Benjamin Kalu, the House’s Deputy Speaker, has praised the Court of Appeal’s decision to reject the Action Alliance’s (AA) petition to overturn his election.
His victory in the Abia election for the Bende Federal constituency on February 25 was affirmed by the court.
In a statement released on Friday in Abuja, Mr. Levinus Nwabughiogu, CPS to the Deputy Speaker, made the following remarks.
The petition filed by the AA was dismissed in August by the Umuahia branch of the National Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal.
The judgment was predicated on Ifeanyi Igbokwe, the party’s candidate, admitting that he had not filed a lawsuit against Kalu despite raising concerns about impersonation.
Igbokwe went to the police and the DSS to denounce the impersonation and demand that the perpetrators be brought to justice.
The AA appealed while security services continued their search for the accused impersonators.
At a press conference, Igbokwe denied ever filing an appeal against Kalu and called for his impersonators to be arrested.
On October 19th, the appeals court issued a binding decision in which it ruled that the case was without merit and should be dropped as a “academic exercise.”
The court said that it lacked the authority to hear the case because the appeal deadline set forth in Section 285 of the Constitution had passed.
After the verdict was handed out, Kalu responded through Nwabughiogu by praising the court’s exceptional legal knowledge.
He underlined his unshakable commitment to his duties and emphasized that the ruling put an end to all remaining legal disputes from the 2023 election.
He claimed this would strengthen his resolve to represent the people of Bende in the federal legislature and of Nigeria as a whole.