The Court of Appeal in Abuja ruled on Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to recognize Udom Ekpoudom as the genuine candidate for Akwa Ibom North-West senatorial district.
A three-member panel of the appellate court on Monday nullified the election that produced Godswill Akpabio as the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the Akwa Ibom North-West senatorial district.
The panel also set aside the judgment of the Federal High Court which directed INEC to accept and publish Akpabio’s name as the party’s candidate.
The Backstory: Mr. After losing, He resorted to choosing the party’s senatorial ticket for Akwa Ibom North West Senatorial Districts.
However, Udom Ekpoudom has emerged as a candidate after participating in the primaries conducted by INEC officials.
Fortunately for Akpabio, the first primary held in the zone on May 28, 2022, was canceled following security breaches during the primary election.
The rerun election was held and Mr Akpabio won the rerun poll with 478 votes. Subsequently, his name was forwarded to INEC as a candidate.
However, INEC still failed to recognize Mr Akpabio as a senatorial candidate, leading him to go to court and file a case against INEC.
The first judgment: INEC told the Federal High Court that Akpabio was not recognized because it only presided over the May 27 primary election and not the June 9 election conducted by the APC’s National Working Committee (NWC). But the judge rejected INEC’s submission and held that the consequences of INEC’s failure to monitor the election would not be visited on Akpabio.
During the trial judge, Justice Emeka Nwite also said that only the NWC of a political party can conduct valid primaries because it is allowed by law to conduct such primaries.
Because of this, he ruling INEC to accept and publish Akpabio’s name as the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for Akwa Ibom North-West Senatorial District.
INEC PUBLISHED the final list of candidates with Akpabio’s name as the APC candidate for Akwa Ibom Northwest Senatorial District.
Dissatisfied with the trial court’s decision, Mr Ekpoudom approached the court of appeal.
Decision of the Court of Appeal: In its decision on Monday, the appellate court ruled that Akpabio as the presidential aspirant of the APC, should not have participated in the valid senatorial primary of the same party held on May 27 and monitored by INEC.
Consequently, the court ordered INEC to recognize Mr Ekpoudom as the genuine candidate for the North-West senatorial district of Akwa Ibom.