BY MAYOWA SAMUEL
Ebonyi State governor has lost his bid to become the senator to represent Ebonyi South senatorial district under the platform of the All Peoples Congress after a Federal High Court sitting in Abakaliki disqualified him from contesting for the seat.
The presiding judge, Justice Fatun Riman, at the court proceeding on Friday, also disqualified the governor’s younger brother, Austin Umahi from participating in the election on the party’s platform.
The younger Umahi had emerged the party’s candidate for the seat after winning the primary election for the zone but later resigned to pave way for his elder brother, Umahi to contest for the rerun of the district’s election, after the governor lost the party’s presidential primary to former Lagos State Governor, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Justice Riman in his judgement, declared that with the withdrawal of Austin Umahi after winning the primary, the authentic candidate of the party for Ebonyi South senatorial district was Ms Ann Agom-Eze who came second in the primary.
According to the judge, Section 115 of the Electoral Act forbids a person from contesting two different primary elections in the same year.
In a swift reaction to the court’s decision, the Special Assistant to Governor Umahi on Strategy, Chris Oko, said the judge was misled by Agom-Eze.
He alleged that Agom-Eze lied on oath that she never withdrew from the contest, stressing that there would be a rerun of the election.
The Independent National Electoral Commission had in June published the names and particulars of candidates vying for various positions at the federal level in the 2023 general elections.
But Governor Umahi’s name and particulars were missing from the list published by the electoral body as INEC said it never monitored any rerun primary announcing him as candidate.
Displeased with the development, Governor Umahi approached the Federal High Court seeking an order for INEC to publish his name as the candidate of the ruling party for the election in the senatorial district.
Ms Ann agom-eze had also applied to be joined in the suit.
