Udom Ekpoudom must be recognized by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the legitimate candidate for the Akwa Ibom North-West senatorial district, according to a ruling from the Court of Appeal in Abuja.
Monday’s election that produced Godswill Akpabio as the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for the Akwa Ibom North-West senatorial district was declared invalid by a three-member panel of the appellate court.
A Federal High Court ruling ordering INEC to recognise and publish Akpabio’s name as the party’s candidate was also overturned by the panel.
The Background
Bola Ahmed Tinubu defeated Mr. Akpabio in the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential primary.
He turned to choosing the party’s senatorial tickets for the Akwa Ibom North West Senatorial Districts after losing.
Udom Ekpoudom, however, had already become a candidate after taking part in the primaries, which were overseen by INEC staff.
Fortunately for Akpabio, security violations during the primary election led to the cancellation of the first primary held in the zone on May 28, 2022.
Mr. Akpabio received 478 votes to win the repeat election, which was held. His name was then submitted to INEC as the candidate.
However, INEC continued to refuse to recognize Mr. Akpabio as the senatorial candidate, which prompted him to go to court and sue INEC.
Because it only oversaw the primary election on May 27 and not the poll on June 9 that was run by the APC’s National Working Committee, INEC informed the Federal High Court that Akpabio was not recognized (NWC).
The judge, however, rejected INEC’s argument and declared that Akpabio could not be held accountable for INEC’s inability to oversee the election.
Justice Emeka Nwite, the trial judge, further ruled that only the NWC of a political party may hold legitimate primaries since it was authorized to do so by law.
As a result, he gave INEC the order to recognize and publish Akpabio as the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for the Akwa Ibom North-West Senatorial District.
The final list of candidates, which included Akpabio’s name as the APC candidate for the Akwa Ibom Northwest Senatorial District, was released by INEC.
Mr. Ekpoudom appealed the trial court’s ruling after being dissatisfied with it.
Decision of the Appeal Court: In its ruling on Monday, the appeal court determined that Akpabio, an APC presidential candidate, was unable to take part in the party’s legitimate senatorial primary, which was held on May 27 and was overseen by INEC.
Thus, the court mandated that INEC recognize Mr. Ekpoudom as the legitimate candidate for the Akwa Ibom North-West senatorial district.
