7th October, 2022
A Federal High Court in Umuahia on Friday dismissed the suit filed by Chief Dan Eke, seeking nullification of APC Governorship primaries in Abia.
Eke was a governorship aspirant on the platform of APC.
He approached the court to invalidate the results of the parallel primaries conducted on May 26 by two other governorship aspirants, Chief Uche Ogah and Chief Ikechi Emenike.
Meanwhile, Ogah and Emenike are laying claims to the candidacy of the party.
Delivering judgment, Justice Evelyn Anyadike, held that Eke’s grouse that he did not know about the venue and time of the primary on the scheduled date was not justifiable.
Anyadike also held that an aspirant in a party’s primary election must not only purchase the nomination and expression of interest forms, screened and cleared but must physically participate in the election.
The court held that because he did not physically participate in the party’s primary, he lacked the locus to challenge its outcomes.
The court therefore struck out the case for lack of locus by the plaintiff.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Emenike emerged from an indirect primary, held at the Chidiebere Motor Park, Umuahia.
On the other hand, Ogah, a former Minister of Mines and Steel Development, reportedly emerged from a direct primary, which purportedly took place across the state.
INEC, however, recognised and published Emenike’s name as the APC Gubernatorial Candidate for the 2023 poll.
Dissatisfied with the development, Eke approached the court to nullify both results on the ground that the primaries were not conducted in compliance with the directives of the APC National Working Committee (NWC) and section 84 (13)(14) of the Electoral Act.
He contended that the NWC’s directive was that Abia should adopt direct primary.
He further argued that Ogah’s direct primary was not supervised by the party’s National Elections Committee and INEC as provided by the Electoral Act.
Eke further deposed in his affidavit that the NWC failed to formally communicate the venue and time for the primary election in Abia to him as an aspirant.
He averred that he wrote to the NWC seeking to get the details about the exercise but got no response.
In a swift reaction, Eke told newsmen that he was utterly disappointed with the judgment and that he would approach a higher court.
He expressed worry that he was adjudged not to have the locus to challenge the injustice meted at him, after paying N50 million for nomination form, screened and cleared.
“This is a serious anomaly. I shall appeal the judgment to the higher level.
“There should be justice in the case,” Eke, a U.S.-based chartered accountant, said.