The political party’s nominated governorship candidate alone has the authority to choose the party’s deputy governorship nominee, according to a ruling made clear by the Supreme Court of Nigeria on Friday.
Igwe Phillip Okey, a former deputy governorship candidate for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Abia State, filed an appeal, and the Apex Court ruled on it on Friday.
Okey attempted to overturn the August 31 ruling of the Court of Appeal in Abuja, which upheld the July 3 ruling of the Federal High Court in Abuja, dismissing his lawsuit demanding that the PDP keep him as its deputy governorship candidate for the most recent election. The appeal was filed under the file number SC/CV/919/2023.
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The Apex Court determined the only issue designated for resolution against Okey in the lead judgement, which was written by Justice Uwani Abba-Aji and read by Justice Emmanuel Agim on Friday.
According to Section 187(1) of the Constitution, the Supreme Court upheld the Justices of the Court of Appeal’s ruling that the governorship candidate has the constitutional right to designate a deputy governorship candidate.
It further said that each governorship candidate has the exclusive authority to select their own deputy.
As the Apex Court pointed out, when a candidate for governor passes away, the deputy governorship candidate’s candidature also passes away.
“You cannot force the deputy governorship candidate selected by the deceased candidate on the newly elected governorship candidate,” the supreme court further stated.
It dismissed the appeal and referred to Okey’s case as a “wild goose chase.” It also upheld the Court of Appeal’s August 31 ruling. Additionally, it granted N200,000 in costs to the appellant.
In anticipation of the 2023 governorship race, the PDP held its primary on May 25, 2022, during which Prof. Uchenna Ikonne was declared the party’s nominee.
Subsequently, Professor Ikonne proposed Okey as the party’s nominee for deputy governor in the upcoming election.
But before the election, on January 25, 2023, Professor Ikonne passed away. As a result, the PDP called another primary on February 4, at which point Ambrose Ahiwe was put up as the party’s new nominee for governor.
In a lawsuit he filed with the Federal High Court in Abuja, Okey contested Ahiwe’s selection of Chukwudiebube Jasper Uche as his running mate at the time of his nomination.
Okey filed an appeal with the Court of Appeal after the Federal High Court dismissed the lawsuit on July 3rd, ruling among other things that it lacked merit.
In a ruling on August 31, the Court of Appeal upheld the Federal High Court’s previous ruling. Okey then challenged the case to the Supreme Court after the Court of Appeal dismissed his appeal and assessed N500,000 in costs against him.
