Supreme Court Dismisses Suit Against Abia PDP Primaries

Opposition parties have lost their bid to nullify the Abia State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP’s) primary election conducted last year at the Supreme Court.

The disputed primaries produced the late Prof Uche Ikonne as the party’s governorship candidate as well as National Assembly and state House of Assembly candidates of the PDP in the state.

The legal contest against the party primaries began at the Federal High Court, Umuahia which dismissed the suit with No FHC/UM/CS/62/2.

The claimants went to the Appeal Court where they lost before proceeding to the apex court on appeal number SC/CV/143/2023, which also dismissed the suit.

It was between Barr. Ndudi Nwagbara, Onyekachi Abaribe and 5 others vs INEC, PDP, Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, the late Ikonne and 35 others.

The Federal High Court, Umuahia had dismissed the case on the basis that the claimants who alleged that they bought forms to participate in the congress elections of the PDP Abia as delegates were not aspirants as provided in the Electoral Act 2022 and therefore lacked the locus standi to bring the action.

Not satisfied with the judgement of the lower court, the claimants approached the Court of Appeal, Owerri in January 2023, where they also lost as the appellate court upheld the judgement of the trial court and ruled that they lacked the locus standi to bring the appeal.

Consequently, they proceeded to the Supreme Court, which ruled that their appeal ought not to have come to it for lack of jurisdiction to entertain the same. Their lawyer Chief Chukwuma Wachukwu Ume (SAN) was asked by the Supreme Court seven-man panel led by Justice John Okoro to withdraw the appeal, which he did.

Thereafter, the Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed the appeal and awarded N2 million in favour of the respondents, which is to be paid personally by the senior lawyer for filing a frivolous and vexatious appeal.

In a related development, they also filed a motion seeking to substitute Chief Okey Ahaiwe, who is the PDP gubernatorial candidate in Abia State with the late Prof Ikonne, which was opposed vehemently that Ahiwe was not a product of the first PDP primary election that produced Ikonne but a product of a different primary election and stands on his own.

The implication of that judgement is that there is no legal impediment for any of the governorship, senatorial, House of Representatives and House of Assembly candidates of the PDP as the opposition had hoped.