Godswill Akpabio Sacked By Court Of Appeal As APC Senatorial Candidate

Godswill Akpabio Sacked By Court Of Appeal As APC Senatorial Candidate

 

Touchaheart Nigeria reports that Godswill Akpabio was no longer the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for the Akwa Ibom North West Senatorial District after the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court overturned its decision.

This online news source understands that on Monday, November 14, 2022, a three-judge panel of justices presided over by Justice Danlami Senchi ruled that Godswill Akpabio had failed to submit proof of arguments within the allotted period of time.

The three-member panel of judges further determined that Akpabio was ineligible to take part in the APC’s legitimate primary, which produced Udom Ekpoudom as a candidate, and was held on May 27 and observed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Touchaheart Nigeria cites a September 22, 2022 order from a Federal High Court in Abuja, the nation’s capital, asking the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to re-nominate Senator Akpabio as the APC’s candidate. Akpabio was the party’s nominee in the second primary on June 9.

The lower court had ordered INEC to recognize the former Niger Delta Minister as the APC flagbearer.

The court also ordered INEC to release Akpabio’s name as the APC’s senatorial candidate for the Akwa Ibom North/West senatorial district in 2023. The court claimed that the Commission had broken the law by refusing to accept and publish the former governor’s name after the APC had submitted it to it as its candidate.

In his ruling, Justice Emeka Nwite stated that Akpabio had been duly selected by the APC’s National Working Committee (NWC) as its candidate for the Akwa – Ibom North–West Senatorial District on June 9, 2022.

The trial judge criticized INEC for choosing to oversee the illegal primary on May 27 which was held by a faction of the party led by Augustine Ekanem as opposed to the legitimate primary on June 9 that was held by the APC NWC.