A federal high court in Abuja has affirmed Uche Ogah, former
minister of state for mines and steel development, as the duly elected
governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abia state.
In a judgment delivered on Friday, Binta Nyako, the
presiding judge, nullified the candidacy of Ikechi Emenike who was earlier
recognised by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The Abia APC had held parallel governorship primaries in the
state that produced Ogah and Emenike as candidates of the party.
On May 26, the APC declared Emenike the winner of the
governorship primary in the state.
Subsequently, ruling in a suit instituted by Chinedum Nwole
and two others, an Abia high court declared that Emenike lacked the locus
standi to contest the election because he had earlier been suspended from the
party.
However, in another ruling, O.A. Chijioke, the judge,
granted Emenike a stay of execution on the restraining order earlier imposed.
Emenike, thereafter, approached the high court to determine
whether the APC can refuse to submit his name to INEC.
He also prayed the court to determine whether INEC can
refuse to publish his name as the APC candidate for the 2023 governorship
election.
The court, in its judgment delivered on June 24, mandated
APC to submit Emenike’s name to INEC and for the commission to upload his name
on its portal.
Also, the court restrained INEC from accepting or publishing
the name of any person other than Emenike.
Uche Ogah — who was not a party to the suit and did not
participate in the primary that produced Emenike — approached the court of
appeal with a motion for leave to appeal the said judgment as an interested
party.
Opposing the motion, Emenike’s legal team had argued that
the appeal court lacks the jurisdiction to hear the motion since it was filed
outside the 14 days stipulated for filing of an appeal in pre-election cases.
On July 20, the court of appeal consequently upheld the
preliminary objection against the motion in favour of Emenike.
But Ogah went on to file a separate suit before the Abuja
federal high court.
Solomon Umoh, counsel to Ogah, told the court that the
direct primary that produced his client was monitored by officials of INEC as
against the indirect primary that produced Emenike.
Ogah, therefore, prayed for an order directing the APC to
forward his name to INEC forthwith as its duly nominated candidate for the 2023
Abia governorship poll.
Meanwhile, the APC and its national chairman, Abdullahi
Adamu, disowned the primary that produced Ogah as the party’s governorship
candidate in Abia.
Also, Emenike, through his counsel, Lateef Fagbemi, prayed
the court to uphold the nomination of his client on the grounds that he emerged
from a primary lawfully conducted by the APC’s national working committee
(NWC).
But delivering judgment in the suit, Nyako invalidated the
indirect primary that produced Emenike as the party’s candidate.
She ordered the APC to forward Ogah’s name to INEC as the
duly elected governorship candidate.
She also directed the electoral umpire to give recognition to the plaintiff.
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