The Ebonyi State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in the National Judicial Institute (NJI), Abuja has dismissed the Petition of the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Prof Bernard Odoh against Governor Ogbonna Nwifuru.
The tribunal ruled that the issue of nomination of party candidate was a pre-election matter that can only be entertained by a High Court.
In its ruling, the tribunal judgement read by the Chairman of the panel held that Prof Odoh was not a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and therefore lacked the locus to challenge its candidacy.
The tribunal held that Governor Nwifuru validly defected to the APC from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as evidenced in the judgement of a Federal High Court sitting in Abakaliki which ruled in favour of the PDP and the ruling was never appealed by the APC or Governor Nwifuru.
The tribunal held that APGA by their evidences before the tribunal has rather proved that Nwifuru defected to the APC.
