The Abuja division of the federal high court has nullified the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) primaries that produced candidates for governorship, house of assembly and national assembly positions for the 2023 elections in Ebonyi state.
The presiding judge, Justice Binta Nyako, in a judgment delivered, on Wednesday, December 7, ordered PDP to conduct a fresh poll in the state within 14 days for the purpose of electing candidates for next year’s polls.
She equally issued an order directing the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to monitor the fresh congresses in the state, Nigeria Lawyer reports.
The judgment followed a suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1319/2021 filed by Okoroafor Tochukwu Okorie against the PDP and INEC.
The judge agreed with the counsel to the plaintiff, Okoro Mkemakolam, that PDP primaries in Ebonyi state was conducted in flagrant disobedience to the order of the court of appeal staying the execution of the judgment of the federal high court in Abuja, declaring Joseph Onu as the Ebonyi state chairman of the party.
Justice Ahmed Mohammed of the Abuja division of the Federal High Court, in a judgment delivered on April 13, 2022, recognized Onu as the authentic chairman of the Ebonyi state chapter of the party.
Okorie, who was dissatisfied with the decision, through his counsel, Nkemakolam Okoro, approached the Abuja division of the court of appeal to set aside the judgment of the lower court.
The appellant followed it up with a motion for stay of execution of the judgment of the federal high court which was granted by the appellate court.
Onu, while reacting to the development, reiterated that the party’s governorship ticket remained resolved and settled in favour of Dr. Ifeanyi Odii.
He dismissed the judgment, and described it as one that is not enforceable, adding that the supreme court had ruled on the matter in favour of Odii and that no other court in the country could revisit the matter in any form.
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