The candidate of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Prof Gregory Ibe and the All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA, Abia State, say, they are rejecting the nullification of its May 29, 2022 governorship primary by the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja.
Reacting to the Abuja Court of Appeal ruling, which sustained the nullification of the Abia State APGA governorship primary election of 29 May 2022 by Justice Binta Nyako of the Abuja High Court, due to alleged irregularities, Prof Ibe faulted the position of the judges, stating that it is totally unacceptable and affirmed that he had briefed his legal team to immediately commence cross appeal proceedings at the supreme court.
According to him,”I received with utter dissatisfaction the outcome of the Abuja Court of Appeal matter between Sir Chikwe Udensi and I.
“According to information available to me, the judges denied Sir Udensi his twin prayers of either being declared governorship candidate of our party or ordering a rerun of the primary election.
“Then in a manner tantamount to playing Father Christmas, the court surprisingly erred by granting a request that was not pleaded by declaring that our party, APGA should not present any candidate during the governorship election of 11 March 2023”.
Continuing, he said,” This is not only a strange ruling but one that is preposterous and totally unjustifiable.
I thereby reject the judgment in its entirety and subsequently announce my decision to seek redress at the apex court.
Already my lawyers have been briefed to immediately commence cross appeal proceedings at the supreme court in order to upturn the unfair judgment”.
Similarly in a statement by Rev. Augustine Ehiemere, the Abia State chairman of APGA, the party lamented, “We find it so strange that the Appellate Court would find any ground to nullify a governorship primary adjudged to be the most peaceful and credible in the country; a primary fully participated by all the aspirants who took time to address the delegates before the commencement of the exercise; a primary that was conducted under the watchful eye of all the necessary stakeholders including the security agencies, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and beamed live by the media”.
Ehiemere said all the aspirants were given equal opportunity to address the delegates “before one of them, Sir Chikwe Udensi, later left the venue and went to a certain hotel where it was later reported on the social media that he declared himself a governorship candidate”.
The INEC and Electoral Committee sent by the National leadership of the party monitored the primary.
“Interestingly, the remaining three aspirants – Greg Ibe, Etigwe Uwa, and Gen. Ijioma Ijioma (retd.) were all together as members of one family, observing the proceedings until the end.
“When finally the votes were counted and result announced, they all congratulated our candidate, Professor Greg Ibe, who emerged with a landslide victory”, the statement further read.
The party continued, “It is unfortunate that these aspirants who lost out in a transparent and credible primary later went to court variously to challenge the outcome of the contest. It is also a surprise that individuals who had all committed to peaceful primary, mouthing their love for Abia and APGA, could later conspire to destroy the very house they had claimed they came to build”.
The plaintiff, Sir Udensi in his twin- prayers, had asked the Appeal Court either be declared governorship candidate of the party or a rerun of the primary election.
“But the Court veered off the track to nullify the entire governorship primary. This is nothing but a travesty of justice which of course, cannot stand the scrutiny of the apex court.
“We totally align with our governorship candidate, Professor Greg Ibe, in his avowed determination to proceed to the Supreme Court to challenge the judgement and ultimately reclaim his mandate”, the party said.
They therefore, urges their members and supporters to remain calm and restrain from any act capable of portraying the party in the bad light.
