Umahi in the lurch after court rules that the governor is ineligible to run in the 2023 elections

By Adeleye Kunle

The Ebonyi State Governor, David Umahi, was disqualified by Justice Fatun Riman of the Federal High Court in Abakaliki on Friday from running for the Ebonyi South senatorial seat on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2023 general elections, TrackNews reports.

The order was issued by a judge while ruling on an application filed by the governor, and it also barred his younger brother, Austin Umahi, from voting in the election.

After securing the APC ticket for the senatorial district, the governor’s brother withdrew from the race.

Umahi had challenged the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) decision to exclude him from the list of candidates cleared for the 2023 election in his application.

Ms. Ann Agom-Eze, who came in second in the primary that produced the younger Umahi, also applied to join the suit.

Justice Riman ruled, citing Section 115 of the Electoral Act, that a person could not run in two primary elections in the same year.

He declared Agom-Eze the APC candidate for the Ebonyi South senatorial district in the upcoming elections.