The Court of Appeal ruled on November 14, 2022, that his campaign couldn’t be used.
The Supreme Court has put Godwin Akpabio back on the ballot as the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for the Akwa Ibom North Senatorial District. Akpabio used to be the governor of Akwa Ibom State.
After the Court of Appeal’s decision from November 14, 2022, was thrown out, his candidacy was brought back.
In September of last year, the Federal High Court in Abuja ruled in favor of the outgoing Minister of Niger Delta Affairs. In a unanimous decision, Justice Ibrahim Saulawa told the Supreme Court to keep that decision.
After analyzing the arguments put forth by Akpabio, Justice Saulawa ruled that his appeal was meritorious and permitted.
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Justice Ibrahim Saulawa stated in a lead opinion that the “appeal wins on merit and is accepted.”
The decision came after Akpabio filed an appeal against the Court of Appeal Abuja’s decision to throw out his win at the Federal High Court Abuja.
Each of the 10 questions raised by the appellant was decided in his favor and against the respondent, as the Supreme Court noted in its unanimous verdict.
The Supreme Court ruled that the lower court lacked the authority to hear the matter and that any ruling made by the court was null and void.
You may remember that on November 14, 2022, the Court of Appeal in Abuja overturned the decision of the Federal High Court in Abuja to remove Godswill Akpabio as the APC candidate for the Akwa Ibom North West Senatorial District.
Akpabio was found to have violated the rules by failing to provide proof of his arguments within the allotted time, according to a three-judge panel of justices chaired by Justice Danlami Senchi.
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The tribunal also decided that Akpabio couldn’t take part in the APC’s legitimate primary, which produced Udom Ekpoudom as a candidate, because he had already run in the party’s presidential primary and was being watched by INEC on May 27.
However, on September 22, 2022, Justice Emeka Nwite of a Federal High Court in Abuja directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to re-nominate Senator Akpabio as the APC’s candidate. Senator Akpabio was the party’s nominee in the second primary on June 9.
The trial court told INEC to recognize the former Minister of the Niger Delta as the APC’s candidate.
As the APC senatorial candidate for the Akwa Ibom North/West senatorial district in 2023, Justice Nwite also ordered INEC to publish Akpabio’s name. He claimed that the Commission violated the law when it refused to accept and publish the former governor’s name after the APC had submitted it to it as its candidate.
According to Justice Nwite, following the primary held on June 9, 2022, by the National Working Committee of the party, Akpabio was duly nominated as the APC’s candidate for the Akwa-IIbom North/West Senatorial District.
The trial judge criticized INEC for choosing to oversee the unlawful primary held on May 27 by a segment of the party led by Augustine Ekanem rather than the allowed primary held on June 9 by the APC National Working Committee.
