365news gathered that the Federal High Court Abuja’s decision to remove Godswill Akpabio as the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for the Akwa Ibom North West Senatorial District has been overturned by the Abuja division of the Court of Appeal.
On Monday, a three-judge panel that Justice Danlami Senchi presided over ruled that Akpabio had violated the regulations by failing to submit a proof of arguments in time.
The panel further determined that Akpabio was unable to participate in the APC’s legitimate primary, which produced Udom Ekpoudom as a candidate, and was held on May 27 and observed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
On September 22, a Federal High Court in Abuja requested that Senator Akpabio, who was the APC’s nominee in the party’s second primary on June 9, be re-nominated as the party’s candidate by INEC.
The lower court had ordered INEC to recognize the former Niger Delta Minister as the APC flagbearer.
The court also ordered INEC to release Akpabio’s name as the APC’s senatorial candidate for the Akwa Ibom North/West senatorial district in 2023. The court claimed that the Commission had broken the law by refusing to accept and publish the former governor’s name after the APC had submitted it to it as its candidate.
In his ruling, Justice Emeka Nwite stated that Akpabio had been duly selected by the APC’s National Working Committee (NWC) as its candidate for the Akwa – Ibom North–West Senatorial District on June 9, 2022.
The trial judge criticized INEC for choosing to oversee the illegal primary on May 27 that was held by a group of the party led by Augustine Ekanem as opposed to the legitimate primary on June 9 that was held by the APC NWC.
