The All Progressives Congress (APC), Abia State chapter, is calm as it awaits the  Federal High Court, Umuahia judgment in the suit challenging the outcome of the  gubernatorial primaries, purportedly held in Abia State on May 26. The judgment would be delivered tomorrow, Friday, October 7.

A governorship aspirant of the party in the state, Chief Dan Eke, is urging the court to nullify the results of the parallel primaries organised by two other contestants, Chief Ikechi Emenike and Chief Uche Ogah.

Eke’s grouse was that the two primaries were not conducted in compliance to the party’s guidelines and Section 84 (14) of the Electoral Act 2020 (as amended).

Joined as defendants in the suit are APC, Emenike, Ogah and the Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC), which recognised Emenike as the candidate of the party for the 2023 poll.

Mr Obinna Nkume told the court that Emenike adopted an indirect mode of primary election as against the party’s directive for a direct mode. He also alleged that Ogah’s direct primary was not supervised by the election committee set up by the party’s National Working Committee.

Nkume, therefore, asked the court to determine the case on its merit and declare the outcomes of the primaries invalid.

Counsel for APC and Emenike, Mr B. C. Nwankwo and H.O. Afolabi (SAN), adopted their counter affidavits opposing the originating summons, supported with a litany of exhibits.

In their preliminary objections, they argued that the relief sought by the plaintiff was self-contradictory and lacking in merit. They, therefore, urged the court to strike out the case for incompetence.

Counsel for Ogah, Mr Oliver Amuzie, however, argued that both APC and Emenike had no justification to claim to have won the primaries.

Amuzie said that it was ironic for APC and Emenike to allege that the plaintiff did not participate in either of the primaries yet allotted scores to him in their respective results. He urged the court to discountenance their results as forged, hence, should not be relied upon.

The INEC Defence Counsel, Bertha Amadi, said the commission was a neutral and uninterested party, but urged the court to throw out the case.

After listening to the submissions, Justice Evelyn Anyadike said that the court would consolidate all the preliminary objections and, thereafter, adjourned the case to October 7 for judgment.

Source: The Sun