The Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu has expressed satisfaction with the ruling of the Court of Appeal which upheld his re-election as Senator representing Enugu West Senatorial District.
Reacting to the appellate tribunal’s judgment delivered in Enugu on Monday, Senator Ekweremadu said he was never perturbed as the mandate handed to him by his people was “free, fair, credible, resounding, and therefore incontrovertible.”
The Senator, in a statement by Mr Uche Anichukwu, his Special Adviser (Media), quoted him as saying that he did not begrudge his challenger for trying his luck at the tribunals, reiterating that his major concern was to provide quality representation to his constituents and the nation in general.
In Ekweremadu’s words, “This is the beauty of democracy. My challenger exercised his democratic right. It is also democratic and reassuring that the appellate court has upheld the return made by the lower tribunal on my election.
“I thank my constituents and the good people of Enugu State for their prayers, goodwill, and immense faith they have continued to repose in me. Let me also reassure them that I will never let them down. I will continue to work for the common good and to justify every bit of confidence reposed in me.”
It would be recalled that Senator Ekweremadu polled 120,075 votes to re-emerge Senator for Enugu West Senatorial District in the 2015 general elections.
However, although his closest rival of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Hon. (Mrs.) Luisa Achieze, who polled 2,314 had openly accepted the result and congratulated Senator Ekweremadu, Mr. Philip Chukwudi Eze had approached the three-man National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal in Enugu to challenge Ekweremadu’s victory on the grounds that he was the rightful candidate of APC.
The petition was thrown out for lack of merit by the tribunal headed by Justice Michael Edem. It also awarded N60,000 in favour of the Deputy President of the Senate.
Nevertheless, Eze approached the appellate tribunal, which also threw out his appeal on Monday.