Anambra State: YPP Loses Appeal Against APGA Senatorial Candidate
The Court of Appeal, Awka Division, has dismissed the appeal of the Young Progressive Party’s (YPP) candidate, Senator Ifeanyi Ubah, against the senatorial candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) for Anambra South, Engr. Chris Azubogu.
Azubogu, who was nominated as the senatorial candidate of APGA for Anambra South district, has faced legal battles from the YPP in their
effort to have his name removed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC); the YPP argued that APGA held its Anambra South Senate primary outside Anambra South district.
Recall that Justice Ngajiwa had on December 8, 2022 presided over the Federal High Court, Awka, and ruled that the YPP does not have locus standi to question the outcome of another party’s primary election.
Not satisfied with the judgment, the YPP appealed the judgment.
Delivering the judgment, the court dismissed the YPP’s appeal and judgment of the Federal High Court by Justice Ngajiwa, which was appealed, sustained, and affirmed on the ground that the YPP, being a different political party, does not have a locus standi to institute action against the nomination of Azubogu as a candidate of another political party (APGA).
The court also held that the suit was statute-barred, being that it was filed outside the 14 days allowed by law, assuming they even had a locus.
The court also admonished the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), urging lawyers to always advise their clients properly so that they avoid pursuing frivolous matters that waste the time of the court like the YPP’s case against Azubogu and the APGA.
The court also ordered the YPP to pay Chris Azubogu, the APGA and INEC the sum of one million naira (N1,000,000) each.
The YPP Senate candidate for the Anambra South zone has been striving to remove Engineer Chris Azubogu and the APGA from the INEC list for the Anambra South senatorial election in what many consider as a failed attempt by Senator Ubah to run unopposed at a time people of Anambra South are looking forward to electing Azubogu as a senator from the people’s platform called APGA.
