Abia APC: Court fixes date for judgement Ogah’s suit against INEC, Emenike

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Abia APC: Court fixes date for judgement Ogah’s suit against INEC, Emenike

The Federal High Court in Abuja has announced a date for the judgement in the suit filed by a governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the 2023 general elections in Abia State, Dr Uche Sampson Ogah, challenging the parallel primary election that purportedly produced Mr Ikechi Emenike as the candidate of the party for the coming general elections in 2023.

His lawsuit comes on the backdrops of the outcome of the parallel gubernatorial primary elections held by the party, wherein two governorship candidates emerged at the recently-conducted exercise in Abia state.

Both candidates took their battle to court seeking judicial interpretation on the authenticity of the conducted exercise and the actual winner of the gubernatorial primary elections held by the All Progressives Congress in the state.

They are the immediate past Minister of State for Mines and Steel Developmental, Dr Uche Sampson Ogah and the former Pro-chancellor and the Chairman Board Council of the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN), Ikechi Emenike.

However, during the resumed proceeding at the federal high court in Abuja, the presiding judge, Justice Binta Nyako after taking arguments from parties fixed November 11, 2022, for judgement in the suit by Dr Uche Sampson Ogah.

It was confirmed in a notice sighted by our correspondent, on Monday, on the heels of the outcome of the last court proceeding in Abuja

Mr Solomon Umoh, SAN, the counsel to the ex-Nigerian minister had during the resumed hearing in the matter, told the court that the direct primary election that produced him was monitored by officials of INEC and that a report to that effect was made available by the nation’s electoral umpire.

He urged the court to nullify the nomination of Ikechi Emenike and order INEC to publish his name as the lawful APC candidate.

Recalls that Ogah had sued Ikechi Emenike, APC, Abdullahi Adamu and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the lawful candidate of the party for the 2023 general elections in Abia state.

Ogah had also on the 26th of May, 2022, been named the Abia governorship standard bearer of the All Progressives Congress by his faction in Abia State.

He was declared the winner of the just concluded gubernatorial primary elections after he scored 141,952 votes to beat his closest rival, Paul Ikonne who scored 27,054.

On same May 26, a faction of the Abia chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) led by Kingsley Ononogbu, held a parallel gubernatorial primary at a different location in Umuahia, the state capital, and purportedly choose Ikechi Emenike as the governorship candidate of the party for the forthcoming 2023 main elections