Appeal Court sacks Akpabio as APC senatorial candidate

The judgment was delivered on Monday, November 14, 2022, evening in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory.

What happened earlier: Recall that the Federal High Court had ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to recognise Akpabio as the APC Senatorial candidate.

Justice Emeka Nwite, the lead judge then, held that INEC acted illegally by refusing to accept and publish Akpabio’s name after it was sent by APC, following which it ordered INEC to accept and publish Akpabio’s name as APC senatorial candidate for Akwa Ibom North/West senatorial district in 2023.

The case was taken to the Appeal Court: However, the appellate court has set aside the judgement.

The judgement: A three-member panel of justices, led by Justice Danlami Senchi, ruled that Akpabio failed to file a proof of arguments within the time provided by the court rules.

The panel further held that Akpabio, being a presidential aspirant of the APC, could not participate in the valid primary of the party held on May 27 and monitored by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which produced Udom Ekpoudom as a candidate.

The back story you should know: Akpabio was in the race for the party’s presidential ticket but dropped his bid for another candidate.

Prior to the presidential primary on May 27, Udom Ekpoudom, former deputy inspector-general of police (DIG), won the APC primary for Akwa Ibom north-west senatorial district.

A parallel primary was also conducted and won by Ekperikpe Ekpo, but was later cancelled over irregularities. A rerun conducted on June 8 was said to have produced Akpabio as the winner of the exercise.

INEC, however, excluded the APC from its list of candidates published in June.

Festus Okoye, INEC spokesperson, had said the commission is not under obligation to publish the names of candidates submitted by political parties if there are questions over the validity of primaries featuring such persons.

The conflicted party has since been in court over their representative in the election.

What we know: Akpabio had bought the N100,000,000 presidential form, but no records of buying the senatorial form of the APC.