An FCT High Court in Apo on Monday upheld the election of Senator John Enoh as the candidate of the All Progressives Congress for the March 2 governorship election in Cross Rivers State.
Uguru Usani, Minister of Niger Delta Development, who lost out in the governorship primary, had dragged APC, Independent National Electoral Commission and Enoh to the court to contest the outcome of the exercise.
Delivering judgment, Justice Olukayode Adeniyi held that the plaintiff had failed to adduce evidence to substantiate his claims.
The judge said documentary evidence before the court indicated that the APC governorship primary was conducted on September 30, 2018.
The judge also held that the court was satisfied with evidence that showed that APC conducted the exercise in collaboration with the state executives of the party.
He further said the court admitted in evidence a proof that officials of the INEC were at hand to monitor the exercise.
Adeniyi, therefore, said the action ought not to have been instituted as the party had satisfied all requirements as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution and the Electoral Act in the conduct of the exercise.
He held: “In the final analysis, the judgment of this court is that the case lacks merit and the court lacks the jurisdiction to undo what has been done rightly.
“The suit is hereby dismissed.”
Usani, who was nominated into the Federal Executive Council by President Muhammadu Buhari, had claimed that the exercise was conducted solely by the state executives contrary to the provisions of Para. 14 and 20 of the APC Guidelines.
The plaintiff had averred that he participated in the process, adding scored the highest number of votes,
“I was shocked to find out that my name was fraudulently replaced with that of Enoh,” he said.
Usani therefore sought a declaration of the court to hold that he was validly elected as the governorship candidate of the party in the primary.
He also sought amongst others a declaration that forwarding Enoh’s name by APC to INEC as its candidate in Cross River State was illegal, unconstitutional, null and void.
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