The former lawmaker representing Anambra Central Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Senator Victor Umeh, has said that he would challenge the tribunal verdict dismissing his petition against the Senator Uche Ekwunife of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Umeh, the candidate of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in the last election, had prayed the National Assembly Election Tribunal sitting in Awka to nullify Ekwunife’s election, on the ground that she never participated in the primary of the PDP as required by the law.
The tribunal, however, declined Umeh’s request, saying that Ekwunife’s nomination was in order since the original candidate of PDP, Charles Odunukwe, who withdrew from the race and was replaced by her, had taken part in the primary.
Ekwunife was first announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the 2019 Anambra Central poll. Later, she was reported to have withdrawn her candidature and defected to the PDP, where she was adopted as the candidate for Anambra Central to substitute Odunukwe, although she was not part of the primary.
Umeh said: “This is the first time a tribunal is saying that somebody who did not take part in a primary can be declared a winner in an election contrary to section 285 (13) of the 1999 constitution as amended.
“The constitution says that anybody who did not participate in all the stages of the election shall not be returned winner in any election by the election tribunal or court. So, we’ll take it from there and we will likely use that to test the judgement. I am reviewing the judgement with my lawyers and we’ll most likely challenge it on appeal.”
He added: “The Supreme Court has already determined that anybody who did not participate in all the stages of an election shall not be declared winner. My opponent did not take part in any party primary. And primary is a stage in the election. Participation in a primary election is a very important stage in election and the constitution is very emphatic on it. Anybody who did not participate in all the stages of the election cannot be announced winner.