The Federal High Court in Awka, Anambra state, presided over by Justice Evelyn Anyadike, on Wednesday, July 23, dismissed a suit filed by an aspirant of the All Progressive Congress (APC) for the November 8 governorship election in Anambra, Valentine Ozigbo, challenging Prince Nicholas Ukachukwu’s nomination at the party’s primaries held on April 5, 2025.
Seven aspirants slugged it out during the April 5th primary election of the APC to select the party’s candidate for the November 8 governorship election, where Ukachukwu was declared winner.
Ozigbo, who came second in the election headed to the court over alleged irregularities in the election.
He sued the winner, Prince Nicholas Ukachukwu, the APC, and 20 others, joining the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Ozigbo had claimed that Ukachukwu did not qualify to contest the APC’s primary election.
He had insisted that Prince Ukachukwu did not become a member of APC three months before the said primary election, and did not obtain a waiver to qualify him to contest.
But on its judgement on Wednesday, Justice Anyadike dismissed Ozigbo’s suit as lacking in merits. She said it is solely for the APC as a political party to determine who is its member, and who is not.
The court further averred that Ukachukwu had been APC member since 2024, adding that waiver was given to APC aspirants, of which Ukachukwu was a beneficiary; according to evidence tendered by APC and its legal team.
Justice Anyadike held that while there were “discrepancies worthy of concern” in the documentation presented by Ukachukwu, the court lacked the jurisdiction to substitute one candidate for another.
“The court cannot interfere in the internal matters of a political party where the plaintiff has not provided incontrovertible proof of the date of membership, nor shown that the party acted outside its constitutional powers,” Justice Anyadike ruled.
Reacting to the judgement, Barr Shedrack Ayo, counsel to the defendant, hailed the ruling, describing it as a landmark ruling.
Reacting to the judgement, Ozigbo said that the ruling has shaken confidence in Nigeria’s democratic process.
Speaking through the leader of the Valentine Ozigbo Political Organisation, Mr. Tony Offiah, Ozigbo regretted that the Federal High Court declined to upturn the outcome of the APC primary election in Anambra state, “affirming Nicholas Ukachukwu’s controversial emergence as the party’s governorship candidate.”
.
