A Federal High Court in Umuahia dismissed a lawsuit on Friday that sought to overturn the election of Dr Uche Ogah and Chief Ikechi Emenike as the All Progressive Congress (APC) candidates for governor of Abia State.
Both Chief Emenike and Ogah have staked claims to the governorship ticket after emerging from indirect and direct parallel primaries, respectively.
On Tuesday, Emenike's name was included on the Independent National Electoral Commission's final list of candidates for the APC's governorship of Abia in the 2023 election.
One of the candidates for governor, Dr Daniel Eke, addressed the High Court and requested that both elections be declared invalid due to his displeasure with the way the APC primaries were conducted.
Eke, in the suit, argued that Emenike’s indirect primary contradicted the party’s directive that a direct primary election is conducted in Abia.
Similarly, he argued that Ogah emerged through direct primary but claimed that the exercise was neither conducted by the national leadership of APC nor supervised by the INEC.
He equally claimed that the exercise was shrouded in secrecy, saying that while he was busy looking for the venue of the primaries, the claimants wrote the results of the purported primaries.
Delivering judgement, presiding Judge, Justice Evelyn, dismissed the suit, saying that the plaintiff lacked the locus standi to challenge the outcome of the primaries which he said he did not participate in.
According to the Court, only an aspirant who participated in a primary election has the locus to challenge the outcome of such an election.
The Court further held that the choice of a party’s candidate remains an internal affair of the party, hence, the court will not interfere in it
Justice Anyadike, further held that the inability of the plaintiff to locate the venue of the primaries was not justiceable.
Responding, Counsels to Emenike, H. O Afolabi, SAN; as well as the APC, hailed the ruling, describing it as “well seasoned.”
Ogah’s lawyer, Oliver Amuzie, also described the judgement as well articulated.
However, Chief Eke, who was present in the court, expressed disappointment with the judgement which he said was “a serious anomaly.”
He vowed to appeal it and pursue the matter up to the Supreme Court until he gets justice.
Eke expressed shock that APC would claim that he was not its registered member after collecting N50 million from him as the cost of the nomination form.
Meanwhile, Ogah still has a pending suit against Emenike’s candidacy at the appeal court.
Emenike, a development economist, has about 23 lawsuits against his governorship bid but about 19 have so far been resolved in his favour.