BY MAYOWA SAMUEL
Ebonyi State Governor, David Umahi has disclosed that he is still very much in the race to contest for the Ebonyi South senatorial district election under the platform of the All Progressives Congress.
The Point had reported that Justice Fatun Riman of the Federal High Court in Abakaliki on Friday, disqualified the governor and his brother, Austin Umahi from participating in the election on the party’s platform.
However speaking as a guest on a local television programme on Monday, Umahi insisted that the Federal High Court in Abakaliki did not disqualify him from the race.
He stated that the court rather ordered that a fresh primary election be conducted in the senatorial zone, adding that the counsel for the Independent National Electoral Commission also confirmed the ruling of the court.
He said, “The fact remains that I have not seen the court judgement, but I have asked those who went to court, and I have spoken to the INEC lawyer that was in court.
“The INEC lawyer said two things: that the court ordered for a fresh election, and that I was never disqualified. This is very important.
“The judge cancelling the election of June 9 may not be the fault of the judge; the judge made use of the evidence before him. Our lawyer went to court because INEC did not publish my name, as submitted by the party – APC.
“The lawyer went to court on my behalf within the 14 days the publication of INEC came out to compel INEC to do that and along the line, even the PDP from my senatorial zone joined the suit. The person who came second in the first senatorial primary election also joined the suit, my sister Ann Agom-Eze.”
Umahi’s younger brother, Austin 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.
However, 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.
Oko alleged that Agom-Eze lied on oath that she never withdrew from the contest, stressing that there would be a rerun of the election.
