ANAMBRA 2021: Courts order INEC to list Soludo, Uba as APGA, PDP candidates

Two courts in Anambra on Monday ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to list the names of Professor Chukwuma Soludo and Senator Ugochukwu Uba as the candidates of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), respectively for the November 6, 2021, governorship election.

In Professor Soludo’s case, the High Court presided over by Justice C.C. Okaa directed INEC to publish the former CBN Governor’s name which was removed from the electoral umpire’s list last Friday and replaced with that of Hon Chukwuma Michael Umeoji.

Justice Okaa in passing judgment ordered INEC to remove the name of Hon Umeoji from its list and ordered him to stop parading himself as the candidate of APGA for the November election.

The court also reaffirmed that Chief Victor Oye is the indisputable national chairman of APGA and directed that Chief Edozie Njoku and Mr. Jude Okeke should stop parading themselves as chairmen.

Similarly, in Senator Uba’s case, a High Court in Awka presided over by Justice Obiora Nwabunike did not only order INEC to list the lawmaker’s name as the rightful candidate but also awarded N10 million damages against the defendants namely, the PDP and Mr. Val Ozigbo, the other candidate of the party produced at the primary supervised by the leadership of the party.

According to the judge, the primary that produced Uba was the authentic one because there was a court ruling by Justice Adeniyi of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, which had not been vacated.

“An order of the court, whether it is right or wrong, must be obeyed until it is vacated. The peculiarity of this case is that there was an existing court order that is still alive” Vanguard quoted the judge as saying.

He said the plaintiff, Uba, relied on the judgment of the FCT High Court to conduct the PDP primary that took place at Paul University, Awka on the 26th of June, explaining that since the PDP did not like the judgment of the FCT High Court, it should have endeavored to vacate it before deciding to use super delegates during the primary that produced Ozigbo.

Justice Nwabunike also dismissed the issue of lack of jurisdiction prayed for by the defendants, stating that jurisdiction, which he described as the livewire of court, was invested in his court by the provisions of the Electoral Act.