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A Federal High Court sitting in Awka, the Anambra state capital, has affirmed former governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Charles Soludo, as the candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), ahead of the November 6, governorship election in the state.
Soludo, who belongs to the Victor Oye-led faction of APGA had secured 740 votes to defeat Ezenwankwo Christopher, who polled 41 votes, to emerge as the candidate.
But in the list published on July 16, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), picked Michael Umeoji as the standard-bearer for APGA.
INEC said it based its decision on court orders.
INEC’s Commissioner for Information and Voter Education, Festus Okoye, also told journalists that a judge of a high court in Jigawa State, Miss Ubale, had passed judgment in suit JDU/022/21, upholding the suspension of Victor Oye and affirming Jude Okeke as the party’s national chairman on June 30, 2021.
Okoye also cited another court order in suit number FCT/DW/CV/133/21 in which Bello Kawu, a judge at the Federal Capital Territory high court in Kubwa, on June 28, ordered INEC to monitor the primary election of the Jude Okeke faction and comply with the result.
Umeoji won the primary of the Okeke faction.
But delivering judgement on Monday, Chukwudi Okaa, presiding judge, said the other parties in the suit, comprising Jude Okeke, Edozie Njoku, and Chukwuma Umeoji, were “meddlesome interlopers.”
The judge, therefore, affirmed Oye as the national chairman of the party, and ordered INEC to recognise Soludo as the APGA governorship candidate for Anambra State.
