COURT NULLIFIES PDP PRIMARY ELECTION IN EBONYI, CANDIDATE GOES ON APPEAL

REPORTER: AMECHI ODO

A Federal High Court sitting in Abakaliki has nullified the Primary Election that produced the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Silas Onu, for this Saturday’s Senatorial Bye Election in Ebonyi South District.

Delivering judgment in a suit brought by a group identified as Intending delegates with INEC as a respondent, Justice Hyeladzira Nganjiwa held that PDP failed to conduct the required three-man ad hoc and one-man national delegates who were mandated to vote in the primary election.

The Court also observed that the PDP did not give INEC 21 days notice before the conduct of the Primary Election as required by Law and ordered INEC to remove the name of Mr. Onu in its portal.

But in a swift reaction, Mr. Silas Onu said he had appealed the judgment as the issue at stake was a pre election matter, emphasising that he remains the candidate of the Peoples Democratic party for the Bye Election.

He urged his supporters not to be deterred by the judgment, pointing out that it was curious that Justice Ngajiwa in his judgment ignored plethora of superior court decisions on internal party affairs, even the recent Supreme Court’s decision on Plateau State.

EDITED BY CHUKWUBUIKE MADU