The Supreme Court of Nigeria has dismissed an appeal instituted by the All Progressives Congress (APC) against the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate representing the Ahiazu Mbaise/ Ezinihitte federal constituency of Imo state, South-east Nigeria.
The apex court on Friday threw out the appeal on the ground that the APC had no legal right to dabble into the candidate selection of the PDP.
In a judgment delivered by Justice Emmanuel Akomaye Agim, the Supreme Court held that the APC acted like a busy body and meddlesome interloper in the way and manner it got involved in the PDP matters.
A chieftain of the APC in Imo state, Hon. Nnamdi Igbokwe, had instituted the suit against the nomination of Mr. Emeka Chinedu as PDP’S candidate for Ahiazu Mbaise/ Ezinihitte federal constituency.
He had prayed for an order of court against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) not to accept or list Chinedu as the PDP’s lawfully nominated candidate.
The grouse of the APC was that the PDP’S candidate was returned unopposed in a primary election for the House of Representatives ticket for the February 25, 2023 National Assembly election.
The APC claimed that the unopposed system that produced Emeka Chinedu during the PDP’S primary election was not known to law and should not be accepted by the electoral body.
The APC had lost the suit at the Federal High Court as well as the Court of Appeal before it proceeded to the Supreme Court to vent its anger over how the PDP produced the candidate.
But the Supreme Court in its judgment held that the appellants (APC and Igbokwe) have no business in challenging the candidate selection process of the PDP.
Justice Agim while dismissing the appeal held that the case of the APC was without merit and asked parties to bear their respective cost of litigation.
Edited by Amaka E. Nliam
