The Federal High Court in Abuja has nullified Senator Andy Uba’s participation in the November 6 Anambra State governorship election.
Prof. Charles Soludo won the election with 112,229 votes to defeat Valentine Ozigbo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who got 53,807 votes, and Andy Uba who came a distant third with 43,285 votes.
Justice Inyang Ekwo, in a judgment, held that the June 26 primary of the party which produced Uba as its standard-bearer was not validly conducted.
The judge held that the plaintiff, George Moghalu, succeeded in proving that the APC did not conduct a valid primary election from which Andy Uba claimed to have emerged as the party’s candidate.
“Therefore, the case of the plaintiff succeeds on its merit,” he said.
The judge held that since the election was conducted illegally, the APC (1st defendant) cannot be a beneficiary of the Nov. 6 election which produced the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) candidate, Prof. Charles Soludo, as the winner of the poll outcome.
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The judge, therefore, declared that the APC had no candidate in the Anambra governorship election by non-inclusion of the name of Moghalu in the primary election, and the conduct of the poll in contravention of the Electoral Act and the party’s guidelines.
The judge ordered INEC to delete Uba from its record as a candidate in the election.
He then ordered the APC to refund to the plaintiff the N22,500,000 he paid for expression of interest and nomination forms since the party failed to conduct a valid primary.
Moghalu had, in July, filed the suit at the court, seeking an order removing Uba and the APC from the list of gubernatorial candidates and political parties partaking in the Anambra governorship election on the grounds that the party failed to conduct a valid primary election.
He also demanded N122.5 million as damages, which include a refund for the fee paid for expression of interest and nomination forms and N100 million “for the breach of contract to commence and conclude primary election”.
INEC had picked Uba, winner of the APC primary election, as the party’s candidate.
In the affidavit in support of the suit, the plaintiff said the APC failed to conclude the selection and nomination process for its candidate for the Nov. 6 governorship poll.
He said the APC had chosen to adopt direct primary, which is why the party published the list of designated venues for the exercise.
