The High Court has scheduled January 20 (Friday) for judgment in the dispute over All Progressive Congress (APC) for the Akwa Ibom North-West Senatorial District election.
The APC is challenging the decision of the Court of Appeal, Abuja, which dismissed Godswill Akpabio as a candidate for the February 25 senatorial seat election.
Mr. Akpabio is a former governor of Akwa-Ibom State and a former Niger Delta minister.
In place of Mr. Akpabio, the appeals court ordered INEC to recognize Udom Ekpoudom, a retired deputy inspector-general of police, as the original candidate of the party.
When the appeal came up on Wednesday, a five-member panel of the Supreme Court headed by Kudirat Kekere-Ekun set the date for judgment after taking arguments from lawyers to the APC and Mr. Ekpoudom.
Ume Kalu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), who opposed the APC’s appeal, asked the apex court to set aside the decision of the appeal court on November 14, 2022, and uphold Mr. Akpabio’s candidacy for the polls.
But Mr. Ekpoudom’s lawyer, Solomon Umoh (SAN), prayed the Supreme Court to dismiss the appeal and uphold his client’s candidacy.
The case is just one of three appeals arising from the dispute heard by the Supreme Court on Wednesday. He said the results he chose would be binding in the other two cases.
The court said it was pressed for time due to the pre-election flood that flooded the court.
The background
The Akwa-Ibom North-West senatorial district ticket of the ruling APC has been the subject of intense litigation following the party’s declaration of Mr. Akpabio as its flag bearer.
Mr. Akpabio lost the APC presidential election in Abuja. But the APC has nominated him as its candidate for the senatorial election even though he did not participate in the party’s primary senatorial election.
INEC refused to recognize Mr. Akpabio as a candidate on the grounds that he did not participate in the monitored party primaries.
In September 2022, the Federal High Court in Abuja directed INEC to accept and publish Mr. Akpabio’s name is the APC candidate for Akwa Ibom North-West District for the 2023 election.
In the judgment, the judge, Emeka Nwite, stated that INEC acted illegally by refusing to accept and publish the name of Mr. Akpabio when it was submitted by the APC as a candidate.
The judge said INEC “is bound by the provisions of section 29 (3) of the Electoral Act to publish only the personal details of the first plaintiff candidate for the Akwa-Iborn North / West Senatorial District election in the person of the second plaintiff (Akpabio) as received from the plaintiff first.
Mr. Nwite said that INEC cannot publish the names or other details of other candidates as APC candidates for the Akwa-Ibom North/West Senatorial District election, “except as nominations, submitted and accepted by the first plaintiff (APC).”
The judge blamed INEC’s claim that it refused to monitor the primary poll conducted by the APC on June 9, 2022, which resulted in Mr. Akpabio emerging as a senatorial candidate for having monitored the one conducted on May 27, which resulted in Mr. Ekpoudom as APC. flag bearer.
Court of Appeals then reversed the decision of the Federal High Court and confirmed Mr. Ekpoudom as the original candidate of the party.
Dissatisfied with the decision, the APC and Mr. Akpabio appealed to the Supreme Court.
READ ALSO: 2023: INEC responds to Akpabio’s report ‘making the final list of senators
The decision of the Supreme Court scheduled for Friday will end the dispute over the right holders of the APC ticket for the February 25 senatorial election.
Mr. Akpabio resigned in favor of former Lagos State governor, Bola Tinubu, who emerged as the party’s presidential candidate.
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