![](\"http:\/\/arewa.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Imo-Okorocha\u2019s-in-law-reacts-to-court\u2019s-nullification-of-his-candidature-reveals-\u2018mastermind\u2019.jpg\")
<\/p>\nJustice Inyang Ekwo voided Nwosu\u2019s candidacy on the grounds of double nomination by two political parties, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Action Alliance (AA), in violation of section 37 of the Electoral Act.<\/p>\n
Justice Ekwo in his judgment, upheld the case of the plaintiffs, the Action Peoples Party and its Deputy National Chairman, Mr. Uche Nnadi, to the effect that Nwosu\u2019s governorship candidature was null and void on the grounds of multiplicity of nominations as the governorship candidate of both the APC and AA.<\/p>\n
Justice Ekwo declared that the nomination of Nwosu by AA as a governorship candidate, \u201cis invalid, null and void, having been made at the pendency of similar nomination of the 2nd defendant (Nwosu) by the APC for the same position\u201d.<\/p>\n
The judge noted that Nwosu affirmed to be the APC\u2019s governorship candidate in his statement on oath sworn before the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory.<\/p>\n
The judge similarly declared that Nwosu, \u201chas not been validly nominated by the 3rd defendant (AA) as its governorship candidate for the Imo State governorship election having been made at the pendency of the order of Justice Valentine Ashi of the Abuja High Court recognising the 2nd defendant as the candidate of the APC for the Imo State 2019 governorship election.\u201d<\/p>\n
He noted that Nwosu participated in the APC\u2019s primary held on October 6, 2018 and was subsequently nominated as the party\u2019s governorship candidate.<\/p>\n
While laying claim to the APC\u2019s governorship ticket, amidst stiff opposition from members of the party, he was said to have on October 9, 2018, obtained an order of Justice Valentine Ashi (now deceased) of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, recognising him as the valid candidate of the party.<\/p>\n
In the midst of this, it was learnt, Nwosu was also offered the ticket of the AA.<\/p>\n
Delivering judgment on the plaintiffs\u2019 case, Justice Ekwo said, \u201cThere is no controversy that, on October 6, 2018, the 2nd defendant (Nwosu) had himself nominated as the governorship candidate of the APC.<\/p>\n
\u201cFurthermore, there is no controversy that, to secure his nomination by the APC, the 2nd defendant on October 9, 2019, obtained an order of the High Court of the Federal High Court which subsists having not been set aside.\u201d<\/p>\n
Justice Ekwo held that Nwosu, through his lawyers, failed to offer any valid rebuttal to the plaintiffs\u2019 evidence that he was nominated by both the APC and the AA, while INEC filed no papers in the case.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is illegal in the eyes of the law. No one is allowed to benefit from an illegal act. The 2nd defendant allowed himself to be nominated by the APC and the 3rd defendant (AA).<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is hereby declared that the nomination of the 2nd defendant by the All Progressives Congress and Action Alliance, the 3rd defendant, is invalid, null and void and constitute violation of section 37 of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended).<\/p>\n
\u201cAn order of this honourable court is hereby made directing the 1st defendant (INEC) to remove the name of the 2nd defendant (Nwosu) as the governorship of the 3rd defendant (AA) in the 2019 Imo State governorship election for multiple nomination in violation of the provision of section 37 of the Electoral Act 2018 (as amended).<\/p>\n
\u201cAn order of this honourable court is hereby made restraining the 1st defendant (INEC) from recognising the 2nd defendant (Nwosu) as the governorship of the 3rd defendant (AA) and\/or any other political party for the 2019 Imo State governorship election.<\/p>\n
\u201cAn order of this honourable court is hereby made restraining the 1st defendant (INEC) from giving value to any act done in pursuance of the 2nd defendant purported candidature of the 3rd defendant (AA) and\/or any other political party in the 2019 Imo State governorship election\u201d, the judge held.<\/p>\n
The judge earlier dismissed Nwosu\u2019s preliminary objection and picked holes in the defence he and the AA separately filed against the substantive suit.<\/p>\n
Dismissing the preliminary objection, Justice Ekwo ruled that the provision section 285(9) of the Constitution which stipulates that a pre-election case must be filed within 14 days of the occurrence of the event being complained of, was not applicable to the case.<\/p>\n
The plaintiffs, APP and Nnadi, filed their suit marked FHC\/ABJ\/CS\/235\/2019 on February 27, 2019.<\/p>\n
Justice Ekwoe held that the intention of section 285(9) of the Constitution cited by Nwosu\u2019s legal team was not to make the court \u201cto gloss over all acts prohibited by the Electoral Act\u201d and added that, \u201cIt will mean that section 285(9) of the Constitution is capable, by effect, of allowing a void, illegal or prohibited act to stand and the person behind the act to benefit from the act that is void ab initio.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt must be said that an illegal or prohibited act does not become legal by virtue of being time-barred,\u201d the judge added.<\/p>\n
He also ruled that the suit was not an abuse of court processes since it was filed to seek an interpretation of the provision of the Electoral Act and also held that by virtue of the provision of section 37 of the Electoral Act, the plaintiffs, despite that they did not participate in the election, possessed the locus standi (legal right) to file their suit.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Federal High Court in Abuja, Monday, ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission to remove the name of Uche Nwosu as a governorship candidate in the last election held in Imo State. Justice Inyang Ekwo voided Nwosu\u2019s candidacy on the grounds of double nomination by two political parties, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":145062,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[8529,707,6842],"class_list":["post-145085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-politics","tag-aa","tag-imo","tag-uche-nwosu"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arewa.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arewa.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arewa.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arewa.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arewa.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=145085"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arewa.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145085\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arewa.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/145062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arewa.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=145085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arewa.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=145085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arewa.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=145085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}