The Appeal panel of an Abuja Court of Appeal, led by Hon Justice Peter Olabisi Ige has held that the May 26, 2022 primary election, which produced High Chief Ikechi Emenike as the Abia state Candidate of All Progressive Congress, APC has no blemish of any kind.They stated this today, Friday, December 23, 2022, in a unanimous judgment they passed on three appeal cases standing before it.The panel affirmed that his candidacy was valid, in the appeals which Emenike and the party filed separately; challenging the verdict Justice Binta Nyako delivered, validating a purported direct primary election that Sampson Uche Ogah claimed he had conducted and won.Another appeal in which the panel delivered judgment on was that of one Chief Dan Eke, a governorship aspirants, who also filed his own appeal challenging the judgment of the trial judge that recognized Ogah’s a purported candidate of the party.

The Appellate Court which delivered judgments one after the other on Appeal No. CA/ABJ/1258 High Chief Ikechi Emenike Vs Dr Sampson Uche Ogah & 3 Ors; CA/ABJ/1257 APC Vs Dr Sampson Uche Ogah & 3 Ors resolved the appeals in favour of the appellants, as well as held that the appeal No. CA/ABJ/1297, filed by Dr Eke was successful, thereby dealing a crushing blow to Ogah’s claim to the Abia APC governorship ticket. Ige reprimanded Nyako for ignoring the issue of jurisdiction instead of resolving the issue given that it was fundamental in adjudication.
The panel held that Ogah lacked the locus to challenge the outcome of the party primary since he did not participate in the exercise but instead claimed that he conducted a separate primary which was not sanctioned by his party.
The judgment of the trial court was practically turned into shreds by the appellate court as it upheld the earlier judgment of the Appeal Court in Owerri which affirmed Emenike’s candidacy.Justice Nyako had in her controversial verdict, ignored not only the judgment of the Appellate Court in Owerri, but also two other Appeal Court verdicts that were all resolved in favour of Emenike.
However, Justice Ige and his learned colleagues held that they were bound by the judgment of Justice Pemu of the Court of Appeal Owerri, saying that Nyako’s judgment cannot displace the judgment of the Appeal Court, Owerri Division.They said that Nyako’s failure to invite address from counsel in the sole issue she had raised was a breach of fair hearing and therefore resolved it in Emenike’s favour.
The Appellate Court therefore held that the indirect primary conducted by APC in Abia was valid and frowned at the action of Nyako for upholding the purported direct primary of Ogah, thereby suggesting that same was ratified by certain state chapter.
Delivering the unanimous verdict, Justice Ige read out the names of the members of the panel sent by the National Secretariat of APC to conduct the governorship primary that produced Emenike, affirming that the exercise was valid.He faulted the report of INEC which Ogah had used to back up his claims, stating that a report by the electoral umpire “cannot validate an otherwise invalid primaries”. “You cannot place something on nothing and expect it to stand, the INEC report cannot validate the primaries relied on by Ogah,” the Appellate Court held, and stressed that .Emenike remains the authentic governorship flag bearer of the All Progressives Congress APC in Abia State. END