The Appeal Court in Lagos has struck out a petition of Cletus Turu against Alapala Anthony Ebitonmo.
Turu, the candidate of the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP) for the Burutu Constituency 1 seat in the Delta State House of Assembly had petitioned the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over an alleged omission of his party’s logo from the ballot papers.
Turu’s suit also had Alapala and his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) as defendants.
The NNPP candidate had approached the court to void the March 18 election in the constituency and order INEC to conduct a fresh poll.
Delivering judgment on Saturday, the appellate court upheld the ruling of the State Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal in Asaba, which dismissed the suit for lacking merit.
The court ruled that the NNPP logo on the ballot papers was vetted by the National Executive Council of the party and as such, INEC could not be held liable for willful wrongdoing.
Recall that the appellate court ordered for a rerun election in four units of the constituency on alleged over-voting grounds on November 8, 2023.
