A High Court sitting in Awka, the Anambra State Capital, on Monday declared Prof Charles Chukwuma Soludo as the authentic governorship candidate for the All Progressives Grand Alliance in the Anambra State.
The Court therefore ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission to recognize the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria as such, and remove the name of Chukwuma Umeoji, the candidate of another faction of the party who was listed by INEC as APGA’s candidate in the polls slated for November 6, 2021.
Soludo is a candidate of one of the factions of APGA, the group supported by current governor, Willie Obinao. The faction also has Victor Oye as chairman.
A list of candidates for the election published by INEC last week showed Umeoji as APGA’s candidate for the polls. The court also ordered Umeoji to stop parading himself as APGA’s flagbearer for the poll.
INEC had explained that in compiling the list of candidates for the election, it dropped contestants who had litigations over their candidacies.
Details emerged a day after INEC’s publication of the list that Umeoji got a judgment from JIGAWA State, to the effect that NEC should recognise him as the authentic candidate for APGA.
“The INEC publication is based on a judgment by a High Court in Jigawa State, and the electoral body sensibly wrote that its inclusion of Umeorji as a candidate in the election is “By Judgment,” Soludo’s group said in a statement issued after the release of INEC’s list.
“Our team of dedicated and competent legal experts has studied the judgment and is confident of overturning it effortlessly,” the group said.
The Monday’s Court ruling also reaffirmed Oye as APGA’s national chairman, while ordering Jude Okeke as the national chairman.
