In seperate rulings yesterday, the Supreme Court declared null and void the elections of Mr. Yusuf Musa Nagogo,Mr. Eseme Eyiboh and Mr. John Emeka into the National Assembly
In a ruling delivered by Justice Bode Rhodes Vivour, the apex court declared Lady Margery Chuba-Okadigbo, widow of the late former Senate President, Dr. Chuba Okadigbo, as the senator representing Anambra North. The court also held that the appellant, Mr. John Emeka who brought the suit before it did not have the locus standi to have instituted the appeal challenging the Court of Appeal’s decision which returned Okadigbo since he did not participate in the primary.
Thus affirming her as the authentic candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the April 16, 2011 election.
The Court also upheld the judgment of the Court of Appeal which declared Mr. Solomon Ewuga of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) as the senator representing Nasarawa North and dismissed the appeal filed by Yusuf Musa Nagogo who claimed to have won the party’s primaries.
In a third ruling yesterday, the apex court, in a decision delivered by Justice Bode Rhodes-Vivour, declared Mr. Bassey Dan Abia as the PDP flagbearer for and winner of the House of Representatives election in Eket, Akwa Ibom State.
It dismissed the appeal filed by former Chairman of the House Committee on Media, Mr. Eseme Eyiboh, for lacking in merit.
The court agreed with Dan Abia’s counsel, Prince Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), that only a political party can determine or conduct a primary to choose its candidate in an election.
The Supreme Court affirmed the unanimous judgment of the Court of Appeal, Abuja, which held that “the primary of the PDP held on the 7th and 8th January, through which Dan Bassey Abia emerged as the party’s candidate for the April elections, is hereby upheld as it was the primary that was monitored by the Independent National Electoral Commission and annexed in the suit.
“The trial judge erred by saying that the name of Abia be removed and replaced with that of Eyibo. The party primary is the exclusive right of a political party as the party determines who its candidate in an election should be.”