The Abia State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Umuahia has upheld the victory of Governor Alex Otti.
This came after the it struck out the petition filed by the candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Okey Ahiwe for lacking in merit.
Okey and his party had filed a petition seeking for the removal of Otti as the state governor on the grounds of non-conformity with section 77 of the electoral act and other related matters.
The court struck out the motion stressing that it remains a pre-election matter and not to be entertained by a post election tribunal.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had in March, declared Otti of Labour Party as the duly elected governor with 175,467 votes.
Ahaiwe of the PDP came second with 88,527 votes, while Enyinnaya Nwafor of the Young Progressives Party (YPP) came third with 28,972 votes.
