The Federal High Court, Abuja has dismissed a suit filed by Udom Udo Ekpoudom against Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and All Progressives Congress (APC) for lacking in merit.
Ekpoudom, a retired Deputy Inspector-General of Police, who was the plaintiff in the matter had challenged the election of Senator Godswill Akpabio, former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, as APC candidate for Akwa Ibom North-West Senatorial District.
APC and INEC were listed as 1st and 2nd defendants in the suit.
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In the dismissed suit, Ekpoudom, had through his counsel, Victor Odjeme, sought an order of court compelling the electoral body to accept him as the party’s candidate for the senatorial seat.
However, Justice Donatus Okorowo of the court dismissed the suit after upholding the preliminary objection by counsel to the APC, Umeh Kalu, SAN.
The court held that the failure to join Akpabio as a party to the suit rendered the suit incompetent.
Justice Okorowo further held that the primary that produced Udom Udo Ekpoudom was not authorised by the National Working Committee (NWC) of the APC, but by a dissident state chapter of the APC and therefore invalid.
The court held that any party primary organized by the state chapter of a political party is invalid.
It is alleged that while NWC of the party had rescheduled its primaries to Saturday, May 28, 2022, the retired Police Chief conducted his own primary on Friday, May 27, 2022 and was declared winner polling majority votes.
Armed with the INEC report, Ekpoudom approached the Court to validate his primary and compel the Court to declare him the APC candidate for the elections.
The Court held that the primary which produced Ekpoudom and on which he relied on to actualize his ambition was not a valid primary of the APC.
The counsel for APC commended the court for erudite judgment and stated that the judgment was in tandem with past decisions of the Supreme Court on the issues raised in the suit.
The lawsuit followed the emergence of Akpabio as the party’s candidate in the APC re-run primary poll held on June 8 after Obongemem Ekperikpe Ekpo, the earlier winner of May 28 primary, had voluntarily withdrawn for Akpabio.
The state APC Chairman, Stephen Ntukekpo, had said he was directed by the party at the national level to carry out a re-run over alleged infractions in which Akapbio had emerged winner with 478 votes, while Ekpoudom got three votes.
Although INEC had recognised Ekpoudom as the APC candidate for the senatorial district for the 2023 election, the APC submitted Akpabio’s name as its candidate.
The APC insisted on Akpabio as its candidate, a situation which prompted Ekpoudom to challenge the party in court.
Straightnews had reported that Justice Emeka Nwite, a brother judge in the FHC, Abuja, had, on September 15, ordered the INEC to accept and publish Akpabio’s name as the APC candidate for the forthcoming Akwa Ibom North/West Senatorial District election.
Nwite, in a judgment, held that INEC’s refusal to accept and publish the name of the ex-minister was in contradiction with the law, having received the name from the APC as its valid candidate.
In compliance, INEC had, on Tuesday, September 20, published Akpabio’s name in the final list of National Assembly candidates for the 2023 general elections.
