Ahead of the November 6 guber polls in Anambra, Prof Chukwuma Soludo has been recognized by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA.
The Street Journal, however, reported that a High Court sitting in Owerri on Thursday ruled in favour of Michael Chukwuma Umeoji, a governorship candidate of another faction of the party.
But in a statement in Abuja on Thursday, the spokesman of the INEC, Festus Okoye, said the commission has now replaced Umeoji’s name with Soludo in the newly released governorship candidates list.
He added that Soludo has been cleared to contest in the November 6 governorship election after the commission was served with the judgement of the Court of Appeal, Kano which set aside the judgement of the High Court of Jigawa State on the leadership of APGA and the nomination of its candidates for the poll.
The INEC National Commissioner stated that seven governorship and eleven deputy governorship candidates were substituted by eleven out of the eighteen political parties.
The INEC spokesman, however, revealed that the final list of candidates that would contest the upcoming governorship election would be published on October 7 as provided in the earlier released timetable.
The statement reads:
“The commission met today (Thursday, August 19 202) and deliberated on a number of issues, including the nomination of candidates for the Anambra Governorship election holding on November 6 2021.
“The timetable and schedule of activities approved by the Commission on January 18 2021 provide for the withdrawal/substitution of candidates in line with Sec. 35 of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended).
“Accordingly, by the deadline of July 30 2021 fixed by the commission, seven (7) governorship and eleven (11) deputy governorship candidates were substituted by eleven (11) out of the eighteen (18) political parties.
“Similarly, the commission was served with the judgement of the Court of Appeal (Kano Division) which set aside the judgement of the High Court of Jigawa State on the leadership of APGA and the nomination of its candidates for the Anambra Governorship election.
“The list of substitute candidates is attached to this Press Release. It has also been published on the commission’s website.
“However, the final list of candidates will be published on October 7 2021 as provided in the timetable and schedule of activities for the election.”
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