A Federal High Court, sitting in Awka, the Anambra capital, has affirmed Charles Soludo, former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), as the candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, (APGA), ahead of the 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, while ThankGod Ibe had four votes, and Okolo Chibuzor got seven votes.
But in the list published on July 16, the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC), picked Michael Umeoji over Soludo as the standard-bearer for APGA.
INEC said it based its decision on court orders. Its Commissioner for Information and Voter Education, Festus Okoye, also told newsmen that a High court judge in Jigawa State, Musa Ubale, had passed a judgment 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 which a judge at the FCT High Court in Kubwa, Bello Kawu, on June 28, ordered INEC to monitor the primary election of the Jude Okeke faction and comply with the result. Umeoji won the primaries in Okeke’s faction.
But delivering judgment yesterday, the presiding judge, Chukwudi Okaa, said the other parties in the suit, comprising Jude Okeke, Edozie Njoku, and Chukwuma Umeoji, were “meddlesome interlopers” and affirmed Oye as the National Chairman of the Party, and ordered INEC to recognise Soludo as the APGA governorship candidate for Anambra State.
