Abia APC primaries tussle: Court releases details of judgement affirming Ogah as authentic guber candidate

Mr Ikechi Emenike, a former Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the University of Nigeria Nsukka in Enugu State, was sacked by the Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday, according to the details of the judgement.

On Friday, November 11, 2022, the court ordered Emenike’s dismissal and confirmed Dr. Uche Ogah, the immediate past Minister of State for Mines and Steel Development, as the genuine All Progressives Congress gubernatorial candidate in Abia State for the 2023 general elections.

Track News recalls that the All Progressives Congress held parallel primary elections in Abia State on May 26, 2022, which resulted in the emergence of Ogah and Emenike as governorship candidates in Abia State for the 2023 general elections, respectively.

Despite the outbursts of the majority of critical party leaders, stakeholders, and members across the state’s Local Government Areas, the national leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) submitted the names and details of Mr Ikechi Emenike as its Abia gubernatorial Candidate to the Independent National Electoral Commission.

In light of this, Uche Ogah petitioned an Abuja High Court to challenge Emenike’s eligibility and nomination by the APC leadership. The APC leadership submitted the names and details of Ikechi Emenike to the Independent National Electoral Commission.

However, a copy of the verdict by Justice Binta Murtala-Nyako, which sacked Mr Ikechi Emenike, who was a respondent in the lawsuit filed by Ogah, made available to journalists in Umuahia, the Abia state capital, on Monday, held that the indirect primary election that produced Emenike was in total contravention to a letter forwarded by the national leadership of the All Progressives Congress to INEC that it would adopt

According to the court, “Osun and Benue are two other states where the APC has stated that it will use the direct mode of primary election.”

In her decision, Justice Nyako also said it was strange how the APC notified INEC of its decision to use the direct primary mode in the state and then abandoned it by recognizing a candidate, Emenike, who emerged from a purported indirect primary, saying such is invalid.

Justice Nyako questioned why a purported indirect primary was still held, citing a letter addressed to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and signed by the National Chairman of the APC, Sen. Abdullahi Adamu, and the Secretary, Iyiola Omisore, for which an affidavit was also deposed.