The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has upheld the judgment of the Federal High Court which set aside the candidacy of Andy Uba as the flagbearer of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the recent governorship election in Anambra State.
In a unanimous Judgement delivered by Justice Danlami Zenchi, the appellate court dismissed the appeals brought by Andy Uba and the APC against the judgment of the trial court for lack of merit.
Justice Zenchi held that the panel considered all the issues raised by the appellants in the two appeals and resolved all the issues against them. The court agreed with the submissions of the counsel to Moghalu, Chris Uche, dismissed the appeals, and affirmed the decision of Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court delivered on December 20, last year.
Justice Inyang Ekwo, of the Abuja division of the Federal High Court, had in his judgment that was being challenged at the Court of Appeal, held that Uba was never a candidate in the poll having emerged from an illegally conducted primary election by the APC.
Ekwo held that the plaintiff, George Moghalu, succeeded in proving that the APC did not conduct a valid primary election which Mr. Uba claimed to have won as the party’s flag bearer in the November 6, 2021 election. Consequently, he ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to delete Uba’s name from its record as a candidate in the election.
Justice Ekwo equally ordered the APC to refund to the plaintiff N22.5 million he paid for expression of interest and nomination forms since the party failed to conduct a valid primary. Andy Uba had emerged as the APC’s candidate at the primary election held on June 26, 2021.
But in a suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/648/2021, Moghalu, an aspirant in the APC primary election, challenged the process and the outcome of the primary election.
Moghalu contended that the APC did not comply with the relevant provisions of the Electoral Act 2010 and the APC’s regulations and guidelines in the conduct of its governorship primary in Anambra State.
