The Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt had earlier declared Nicholas Ukachukwu as candidate of the party but on appeal, it was reversed.
Not satisfied Ukachukwu through his counsel, J.B Daudu had approached the apex court to challenge the decision of the Appeal Court.
Delivering judgment in the appeal, the apex court held that the ground one of the appeal formulated by the appellant which is “absence of fair hearing” was irrelevant as it was clear from the papers filed before the court that the appellant was given a fair hearing at the lower court.
On the issue of jurisdiction, the court held that the high court has jurisdiction to entertain the matter contrary to the decision of the Court of Appeal that held that the lower court does not have the jurisdiction to entertain the matter brought by Ukachukwu in the first place.
A panel of five justices of the apex court headed by Justice Mohammed Mahmud also held that the decision of the Court of Appeal which declared Nwoye as the candidate of the PDP has not been challenged, hence he (Nwoye) remains the candidate of the party.
However, the court fixed January 31, 2014 to give reasons for the judgment.
Earlier in his submission, counsel to Ukachukwu, J.B Daudu SAN argued that the Court of Appeal did not give them fair hearing and hence shut them out in the appeal filed by Tony Nwoye.
Opposing the application, counsel to PDP, J.K Gadzama submitted that the appellant was not shut out at the Court of Appeal but rather counsel to the appellant walked out on the court.
