Justice Maha had in a judgment delivered on November 9, 2022 nullified the governorship primary of the Labour Party in Enugu State and ordered the party to conduct a fresh primary election within 14 days.
An Appeal Court sitting in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, on Friday nullified the judgment of Justice Evelyn Maha of the Federal High Court, Abuja that voided the Labour Party Governorship primary election in Enugu State that produced Chijioke Edeoga.
Justice Maha had in a judgment delivered on November 9, 2022 nullified the governorship primary of the Labour Party in Enugu State and ordered the party to conduct a fresh primary election within 14 days.
The judgment was sequel to suit filed by one Captain Evarest Nnaji popularly known as Odengene.
He had faulted the primary election that produced Edeoga as the governorship candidate of the party in Enugu, accusing the party of excluding him in the process.
Nnaji had approached a Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, asking it to declare him as the authentic governorship candidate of the party for Enugu.
While the matter was still in court, the former governorship candidate of the party, Mr Casmir Agbo, withdrew from the race, which led to the conduct of a fresh primary election on August 4, which produced Mr Chijioke Edeoga as the party’s candidate.
Nnaji, who didn’t participate in the second primary election, approached the Abuja court to challenge the legality of the primary that produced Edeoga as the party’s candidate.
Ruling on the case, Justice Maha nullified the primary election and ordered the party to conduct a fresh primary election within 14 days that will include the duo.
Both Edeoga and Nnaji were members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
They contested the governorship ticket of the party and lost. Thereafter, they defected to the Labour Party to fight for its governorship ticket for the 2023 elections.
However, Nnaji in his Abuja suit did not include Edeoga, winner of the second primary as a party to the suit, who the judgment would affect.
Hence, aggrieved by the judgement, Edeoga and his party appealed against the decision of the lower court, before the appellate court to set it aside, describing the judgment as a miscarriage of justice.
Delivering its judgement on Friday, the Appeal Court upheld the arguments of the applicants and consequently set aside the judgement of the lower Court.
The appellate court held that Nnaji had no locus to challenge the result of the primary since he did not participate in the exercise.
SaharaReporters reports that Nnaji who had mounted his billboards across Enugu State capital indicating that he was the governorship candidate of LP, had been described by political pundits as an agent of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state.