The Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal in Cross River State on Tuesday struck out the petition of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Sandy Onor, against the election of Bassey Otu of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

AAccording to the judgment delivered by the panel, the petition was dismissed for lack of merit.

The PDP candidate challenged the declaration of Otu by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the winner of the March 18 poll in the South-South state.

The results announced by INEC put Otu’s tally of votes at 258,619, while Onor reportedly polled 179,636.

The APC candidate won in 15 local government areas of 18 LGAs declared by the commission in Calabar, the Cross River State capital.