The Federal High Court, Abuja, has declared George Ogara as the authentic
\ngovernorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Enugu
\nstate.<\/p>\n
Justice Inyang Ekwo on Tuesday ordered that Mr Ogara\u2019s name be forwarded
\nto the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the duly
\nnominated governorship candidate of the APC in Enugu state.<\/p>\n
This, he said, was because Mr Ogara scored the highest votes cast in the
\n270 wards of the 17 local government areas of the state.<\/p>\n
Mr Ogara had filed a suit against Ayogu Eze; the National Chairman of the
\nAPC, Adams Oshiomhole; Moses Momoh and INEC before the court, challenging
\nMr Eze\u2019s emergence as the APC governorship candidate for the March 2,
\nelections.<\/p>\n
Justice Ekwo, therefore, directed the INEC to recognise Mr Ogara as the
\ncandidate of the APC for the purpose of 2019 governorship election in the
\nstate.<\/p>\n
He held that the direct primary election of the party that produced Mr
\nOgara as the party\u2019s governorship candidate was in compliance with the
\nparty\u2019s guidelines as well as the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended).
\nThe judge restrained INEC from accepting any other name than Mr Ogara\u2019s,
\nfor the purpose of the election in Enugu state.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe plaintiff, having scored the highest number of votes cast by members
\nof the APC in Enugu state for the governorship direct primary election at
\nthe 260 wards, is the nominated candidate of the APC,\u201d the judge said.<\/p>\n
Justice Ekwo held that Mr Oshiomhole, Mr Momoh and the APC\u2019s refusal,
\nneglect and\/or failure to forward Mr Ogara\u2019s name to INEC as the candidate
\nof APC contravened the law.<\/p>\n
He also held that the refusal of INEC to publish Mr Ogara\u2019s name as the
\ncandidate of APC for the governorship election was contrary to provisions
\nof Section 87 (3) of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) and Article 20 of
\nthe APC Constitution.<\/p>\n
In his reaction, Mr Eze vowed to reclaim his ticket.<\/p>\n
Mr Eze made the vow in a statement issued by his campaign organisation\u2019s
\nchief spokesperson, Okey Ezirigwe, in Enugu on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Mr Ezirigwe said that the movement towards President Buhari\u2019s re-election
\nand the decisive victory in the governorship elections in Enugu State
\nremained `unwaveringly\u2019 on course.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Federal High Court, Abuja, has declared George Ogara as the authentic governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Enugu state. Justice Inyang Ekwo on Tuesday ordered that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":64462,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-64461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n