Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the November 6 governorship election in Anambra State, Senator Andy Uba, has said he will appeal yesterday’s court judgment which nullified his nomination as the party’s candidate.
Earlier yesterday, a Federal High Court in Abuja had nullified Uba’s participation in the election.
In a judgment, Justice Inyang Ekwo held that Uba was never a candidate in the election, having allegedly been elected from an illegally conducted primary of the APC.
The judge held that the plaintiff, George Moghalu, succeeded in proving that the APC did not conduct a valid primary election from which Uba claimed to have become the party’s candidate.
The judgment was on a suit in which the APC, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and Uba were listed as defendants.
Moghalu had queried the legitimacy of the governorship primary election purportedly conducted by the APC on June 26, 2021, which allegedly produced Uba as the party’s candidate for the November 6, 2021 election.
Justice Ekwo held that the real issue in this case, which both the first defendant (APC) and third defendant (Uba) seem not to understand is not whether accredited members of the first defendant voted on June 26, 2021, but whether there was any primary election at all conducted in accordance with the mandatory provisions of both the Electoral Act (as amended) and first defendant’s guidelines for the nomination of candidates for the Anambra 2021 governorship election-direct primaries (Option A4).
The judge ordered the APC to refund to the plaintiff the N22,500,000 he paid for expression of interest and nomination forms since the party failed to conduct a valid primary.
Reacting to the judgment in a statement by the Deputy Director of Senator Andy Uba Governorship Campaign Organisation (SAUGCO), Ikechukwu Emeka Onyia, the APC chieftain expressed confidence that he would get justice at the Court of Appeal.
Uba, who is also challenging the election victory of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) candidate, Prof. Charles Soludo, told the party not to celebrate yet.
He added: “The good thing is that this is not the last court in this instant. We are heading to the Appeal Court to prove them wrong.”
