The Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) candidate for governor of Akwa Ibom State, Micheal Enyong, was disqualified by the Court of Appeal in Abuja on Tuesday night. Enyong is a member of the House of Representatives.
In his place, the court reinstated Mr. Umo Eno, a former Commissioner for Land whose nomination by the party had been overturned on January 20, 2023 by the Federal High Court in Abuja.
In a ruling handed down in a PDP appeal against a Federal High Court ruling, Judge Hamma Akawu Barka set aside the Federal High Court ruling and declared it null and unlawful on the grounds that it was founded on mistakes.
Judge Barka concurred with Mr. Paul Usoro and Uwemedimo Nwoko, attorneys for the PDP, that the Federal High Court ruling was given incorrectly and that the court was misled by the plaintiff in the case to draw an unfair conclusion.
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According to the appellate court, the question of statutory delegates who participated in the primary election is a matter for the party, and the lower court should not have looked into it.
Judge Barka concurred with Usoro in saying that a political party’s NWC alone has the authority to hold primary elections for the purpose of selecting candidates for the general election.
The appellate court further determined that the judge lacked legal discretion in the matter since the lower court lacked the authority to investigate the internal affairs of the PDP.
Following that, Judge Barka upheld the PDP’s appeal and revoked all of Michael Enyong’s favourable orders from the Federal High Court.
Enyong, a member of the House of Representatives from the Uyo Federal Constituency, was also mandated by the Court of Appeal to pay the appellant one million naira as court costs.
Usoro responded to the verdict by stating that the judiciary has treated the unlawful directives issued by the Federal High Court against PDP fairly.
