FHC Umuahia Bars Ikechi Emenike,  Orders INEC Not To Recognize Him As APC Gov Candidate

The Federal High Court sitting in Umuahia, Abia State has barred Ikechi Emenike from parading himself as the governorship candidate of the All Progressive Party in the state.

The court, presided by Justice Evelyn Nmasinulo Anyadike, gave the ruling on Thursday.

The court also restrained the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from accepting or publishing his name or any name as candidate of the APC for the forthcoming gubernatorial elections which emanated from indirect primaries allegedly conducted by the party.

The plaintiffs in the case are APC members who had purchased the party’s Delegates Forms in the hope to participate in the state’s delegates’ congress, but claimed it did not take place.

However, Emenike had continued to claim that he was the lawful governorship candidate of the party allegedly produced through an indirect primary—a claim that had been debunked by the other faction of the party led by Uche Ogah, former Minister of State for Mines.

Ogah, who is also a governorship aspirant of the party, had dissociated himself from the alleged indirect primary that produced Emenike because it violated the Electoral Act 2022.

He has cited Section 84 of the Electoral Act (2022) which makes it mandatory that, for there to be indirect primaries by a political party, there must have been a validly conducted delegates’ Congress from which delegates will emerge that will vote at the indirect primaries.

Ogah said, “None was conducted by the party and none was monitored by the INEC as mandated by Section 84 Electoral Act (2022).”

 Thus, the Ogah faction had approached the court to challenge the legal basis for the purported indirect primaries from which Emenike claimed to have emerged as winner.

The plaintiffs’ case is strengthened by INEC’s revelation in a counter-affidavit it filed in a another ongoing case at the Federal High Court Umuahia Division, (FHC/96/2022), where it averred that it did not monitor any Delegates Congress for the APC in Abia State, and that no Delegates Congress by the party took place.

Reacting to the ruling,  Ogah said,” The time for impunity, imposition and implementation of predetermined actions by corrupt politicians is up. Justice is prevailing and truth will always defeat falsehood. As a new Nigeria beckons so is a revamped Abia State on the horizon.”

He added that he remained focused on the task of emancipating Abia from “drifting, decay and deterioration.”

Efforts to get the reaction of Emenike were unsuccessful as he could not be reached on his mobile no.

THE WHISTLER had reported on June 19 that the APC may not field any candidate for the 2023 governorship election due to the failure of the National Headquarters of the party to decisively intervene in the factional dispute in the state.

Two factions of the Abia chapter of the party had conducted two different modes of primaries with each side claiming to be legitimate while the Abdullahi Adamu-led National Working Committee of the party is unable to make a decisive intervention due to alleged compromise.

The National Legal Adviser of the party , Ahmad El-Marzuq, had recommended direct primary for the state after reconciliation efforts collapsed. El-Marzuq has said a direct primary would enable the most popular candidate to emerge.

The direct primary conducted and monitored by INEC at the APC Secretariat, Azikiwe Road, Umuahia, was won by Ogah. But Emenike also claimed to have conducted an indirect primary at Old Chidiebere Motor Park, Umuagu, Umuahia, where he also won.

The confusion over the rightful governorship candidate of the party could have been settled if the APC headquarters had stood by its directive.