Nullification of Uba’s participation should be a lesson to guide Osun 2022 governorship election
By Chris Aburime
Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja has nullified Senator Andy Uba’s participation in the governorship election held in Anambra State on November 6 2021. The nullification of Uba’s participation should be a lesson to guide Osun 2022 governorship election.
In a judgment, the Judge held that Uba was never a candidate in the election having emerged from an illegally conducted primary election by the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Justice Ekwo added that the plaintiff, George Moghalu succeeded in proving that the APC did not conduct a valid primary election from which Uba claimed to have emerged as the party’s candidate.
The judge further ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to delete Uba from its record as a candidate in the election and ordered the APC to refund to Moghalu, the sum of N22.5 million, which is the amount he paid for expression of interest and nomination forms since the party failed to conduct a valid primary.
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APC should learn their lesson and avoid what happened in Anambra State repeating itself in Osun 2022 election by doing the needful. The 2,517 aggrieved members of Osun APC have gone to court.
They are card-carrying members of Osun APC. By challenging the ward congress of the party, held on July 31, 2021 in the state, they are pursuing their rights. This portends grave implication for Governor Oyetola.
The APC members seek: “A declaration that the ward congress of the 1st defendants, Osun State Chapter, allegedly conducted by the Ward Congress Committee headed by Gbenga Elegbeleye on the 31st day of July, 2021, was illegal, null and void and ultra vires; the powers of the first-fifth defendants for contravening the guidelines for ward congresses, 2021 and the constitution of the first defendant’s party.
The implication of the above is grave and the party may once again be heading in the wrong direction if it fails to put its house in order before the governorship election.
Of late, the Osun wing of the party has been torn by crisis, resulting in a faction expressing loyalty to the governor, while the other lines up behind the Interior Minister and former governor, Rauf Aregbesola.
*Aburime wrote from Awka, Anambra State
