A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has declared former Minister of State for Mines and Steel Development, Dr. Uchechukwu Sampson Ogah, as the duly elected governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abia State.
The judgment delivered on Friday by Justice Binta Nyako consequently invalidates the candidacy of Chief Ikechi Emenike who was earlier recognized by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the party’s candidate for the March 11, 2023 governorship election.
Recall that crisis had erupted in the Abia APC after the party held parallel governorship primary elections in the state that produced Ogah and Ikechi Emenike as candidates of the party.
But acting on an Appeal Court judgment affirming an earlier ruling of the Abia State High Court which declared Emenike as the authentic governorship candidate of the APC, INEC had in October published Emenike’s name as the validly nominated candidate of the APC for the 2023 poll.