Abaribe Floored Again As Appeal Court Upholds Abia PDP Primaries
The Court of Appeal Owerri Division has upheld the Abia PDP primaries which held on the 6th of May, 2022.
However the primary elections were challenged at a Federal High Court sitting in Umuahia by Ndudi Nwagbara and seven others who were reported to be working at the instance of a former PDP Chieftain, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, who defected to APGA shortly after he withdrew from the PDP governorship primary exercise. Their grounds for challenging the party was that its three-man delegate Ad-hoc congress never held.
Delivering judgement on the matter in November 2022, the presiding judge, Justice Evelyn Anyadike had held that the conduct of party delegate congress was entirely an internal affairs of a political party and not justiceable in law. She had also declared that “no law gives delegates right of action” in court to challenge the conduct of delegate congress.
However, not satisfied with the High court ruling, the plaintiffs headed to the Appeal Court which today upheld the preliminary objection of the PDP Legal Team to the effect that the Appellants lack the locus standi to have instituted the matter against the PDP when they were not aspirants and that Ad-hoc delegates which they were aspiring for could not have upgraded them to the status of aspirants.
More details to follow…
