The Abuja Division of the Federal High Court, on Thursday, affirmed Chief Ifeanyi Ararume as the winner of the Imo North Senatorial bye-election that held on December 5, 2020.
The court, in a judgement that was delivered by Justice Taiwo Taiwo, held that Ararume was the authentic candidate of the All Progressive Congress, APC, for the election.
therefore directed the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to within 72 hours, issue a Certificate of Return to Ararume to enable him to be sworn in by the Senate President.
Justice Taiwo gave the order after he dimissed preliminary objections the APC and another contender for the senatorial seat, Mr. Chukwuka Ibezim, filed to challenge the competence of the suit Ararume lodged to be declared the bonafide candidate of the APC for the senatorial contest.
Both APC and Ibezim equally challenged the jurisdiction of the court to entertain the matter.
The court held that the objection lacked merit since Ibezim being purported by APC as its candidate in the bye-election, was previously disqualified by both the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal for supplying false information to INEC in furtherance of his qualification for the election.
It will be recalled that INEC had at the end of the Imo North Senatorial bye-election, returned the APC as the winner.
The electoral body based its decision not to return any candidate for the party on the fact that there were many court decisions, for and against the two main contenders from the APC ticket- Ararume and Ibezim.
However, the Court of Appeal, in a unanimous decision by a three-man panel of Justices, on February 6, upheld the high court judgement that disqualified Ibezim for allegedly making false statements/declarations in the affidavit and documents he tendered to both the APC and INEC.
The appellate court further affirmed the order that directed INEC to remove Ibezim’s name from list of candidates for the election.
The court held that evidence before it showed that Ibezim presented falsified and uncertified photocopies of his West African Examination Council, WAEC, certificate.
It found that the WASC certificate that was submitted by the Ibezim, bore two different and irreconcilable names- Ibezim Chukwuma Frank and Ibezim Francis Chukwuma.
Following the judgement, Ararume, re-approached the high court to be declared the authentic candidate of the APC for the election.
Meanwhile, the APC opposed the suit, insisting that Ararume was not its choice candidate for the Imo North Senatatorial bye-election.
The party told the court that Ararume lacked the locus-standi to claim victory in the election, stressing that he did not secure the second highest number of valid votes in the primary election it conducted for the senatorial district.
It therefore urged the court to dismiss the suit, adding that it never forwarded Ararume’s name to INEC but that of Ibezim.
Besides, APC, through its lawyer, Mr. Osho Daudu, told the court that the judgement of a Federal High Court in Owerri, which it said erroneously conferred locus on Ararume, was later voided by the Supreme Court.
Similarly, Ibezim’s lawyer, Mr. Ema Osayomi, told the court that his client had since gone to the Supreme Court to challenge his his disqualification on account of variation in his name.
He contended that as at the time the election held, Ibezim’s name was on INEC’s list and not that of Ararume.
He therefore urged the court to dismiss Ararume’s claims and hold that Ibezim remained the candidate of the APC for the election, a prayer the high court rejected on Thursday.
Comments are closed.