Abuja court nullifies election of APC Organising Secretary

The election of Emma Ibediro as the National Organising Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has been nullified by the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Monday.

The court, presided over by Justice Nnamdi Dimgba, also ordered the ruling party to conduct a fresh election to fill the position within 30 days.

A candidate for the position and immediate past organising secretary of the party, Osita Izanuso, had filed the suit, challenging the election to the office of the National Organising Secretary of the party.

The court, according to Justice Dimgba, agreed with the plaintiff and ruled that the exhibits provided in court proved that the election was marred by violence, irregularities and non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act and the party’s guidelines.

Izunaso, in the suit, asked the court to determine whether the election into the office of National Organising Secretary of APC was marred by violence.

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According to him, some thugs, numbering up to 100, disrupted the election. He also alleged that the thugs broke the ballot box making it impossible for votes of delegates from Jigawa, Adamawa, Anambra, Abia and Imo states to be counted.

He further claimed that if the votes of those delegates were counted, they would have bridged the 290 vote margin between him and Ibediro.

This, he said, led to the disenfranchisement of delegates from some states.

Izanuso prayed the court to declare that it was wrong to have declared Ibediro the winner of the election as a result of the disenfranchisement of some of the delegates.

While delivering judgment, Justice Dimgba ruled that the election did not follow the Electoral Act and the guidelines made by the party for the convention.

He further noted that the defendants had not presented an effective defence to the claims made by the plaintiff and as such, it was bound by the evidence before it.

Justice, who said that it was not clear if the thugs acted on Ibediro’s behalf, he rule that it was clear that their actions disrupted the election, adding that INEC failed in its duty as an election monitor and that its dereliction of duty was evident in its monitoring report.

“In the report, INEC said that the election was conducted in line with guidelines of the 2018 APC elective convention and so it failed in its monitoring function with respect to election into the office of the National Organising Secretary,” the judge ruled.

Consequently, Justice Dimgba ordered that the APC should within 30 days conduct a fresh election for the five states that were disenfranchised.

 

 

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