Appeal Court restores ex-land commissioner, Umo Eno, as PDP governorship candidate in Akwa Ibom

The Court of Appeal, Abuja, on Tuesday, restored the former Akwa Ibom State Commissioner for Land, Umo Eno, as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in the state.

The court delivered the ruling in an appeal filed by Eno challenging the ruling by the Federal High Court, Abuja, which nullified his victory in the PDP governorship primary held in Akwa Ibom last year.

Justice Fadima Aminu had on January 20 ordered the PDP to submit the name of a member of the House of Representatives representing Uyo Federal Constituency, Michael Enyong, to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as its governorship candidate in the state.

Enyong had in the suit said he won the party’s indirect primary election after scoring 2,448 out of the 2,776 total accredited votes in the exercise but the party refused to submit his name to INEC as its governorship flag bearer in the state.

READ ALSO: Appeal Court sets aside judgement nullifying APC governorship primary in Akwa Ibom

In his ruling, the judge declared that the lawmaker had proved his case beyond a reasonable doubt and declared him as the PDP governorship candidate in Akwa Ibom.

Dissatisfied with the ruling, PDP and Eno approached the Court of Appeal to set it aside.

At Tuesday’s proceeding, a three-member panel of the appellate court led by Justice Hamma A. Barka vacated all orders made by the lower court in favor of Enyong and restored the former commissioner as the PDP governorship candidate in the state.

The court also ordered the lawmaker to pay a sum of N1 million to Eno as a cost of litigation.

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