Supreme Court of Nigeria on Thursday affirmed former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Chukwuma Soludo, as the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) for the November 6 election in Anambra state.
The court also affirmed Victor Oye as the national chairman of APGA in Anambra State.
The apex court, in a unanimous decision by a five-man panel of justices led by Justice Mary Odili, upheld the judgement of the Kano State Division of the Court of Appeal, which validated the primary election that produced Soludo.
The court averred that the appellate court was right when it quashed a Jigawa State High Court judgement that recognised a parallel primary election that was conducted by the Jude Okeke-led faction of APGA.
The court awarded a sum of N1 million to be paid by Jude Okeke to APGA and Victor Oye.
Justice Odili upheld the judgment of the Court of Appeal, Kano Division, which had earlier dismissed Okeke’s suit.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had omitted the former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor’s name from the list of candidates for the election and instead listed Chukwuma Umeoji as the party’s flag bearer.
INEC had predicated its decision on existing court orders on the matter.
A month later, the commission made a u-turn and named Soludo as the APGA candidate for the Anambra election.
Two different court judgments, one by Musa Ubale, judge of a high court in Jigawa state upheld the suspension of Oye as national chairman, while Bello Kawu, a judge of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) ordered INEC to monitor the primary election of the Okeke faction and comply with the result.
However, a court of appeal sitting in Kano on August 10 affirmed Oye as national chairman of APGA — meaning the return of Soludo as the governorship candidate.
But party chieftains, Edozie Njoku and Chinedu Okoro filed an appeal before the Abuja division, asking that the ruling be set aside.
Ruling on the suit marked CA/AW/256/2021, filed against Sylvester Ezeokenwa and five other party chieftains, the Abuja division of the appeal court held that the suit constituted an abuse of judicial process.
In a unanimous decision read by Jummai Sankey, the appeal court held that it was bound by the doctrine of ‘stare decisis’, noting that setting aside the ruling of the Kano division would amount to questioning its own judgment.
A panel led by Monica Dongban-Mensem, president of the court, also said the Abuja division lacked the jurisdiction to entertain the suit.
