A Federal High Court in Abuja has nullified the emergence of Senator Andy Uba as the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the governorship election held in Anambra on November 6.
Ruling on Monday, Justice Inyang Ekwo upheld the prayer of the plaintiff George Moghalu, saying Uba emerged candidate from an illegally conducted primary election on June 26.
Ekwo held that since the election was conducted illegally, the APC (first defendant) cannot be a beneficiary of the governorship poll which produced the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) candidate Prof. Charles Soludo as the winner.
The judge, therefore, declared that the APC had no candidate in the Anambra governorship election by non-inclusion of the name of Moghalu in the primary election, and the conduct of the poll in contravention of the Electoral Act and the party’s guidelines.
“The second defendant (INEC) is compelled to delist the name of the first defendant and third defendant from the November 6 Anambra governorship election,” he ordered.
According to the judge, any election conducted contrary to the first defendant’s guideline is in nullity.
“The real issue was not whether accredited members of first defendant voted on that day but whether the election was conducted in accordance with the election guidelines of first defendant,” he held.
He also said that the evidence of the police report confirmed that the election was conducted outside the time frame.
Ekwo, who described the conduct of the primary by APC as “crude and primitive,” ordered that the N22.5 million paid by Moghalu as expression of interest and nomination forms be refunded since the party failed to comply with the provisions of the law and its guidelines.
