The Independent National Electoral Commission has stopped recognising Lawrence Ezeh as the senatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress for Enugu East, citing a court order.
On a list tagged,
“Final list of senatorial candidates”, for the 2019 general elections
published on its website on Thursday morning, the electoral body
replaced Ezeh’s name with that of Adaku Ogbu-Aguocha.
The change
came about three weeks after INEC had concluded the National Assembly
elections in which Ezeh was retained as the APC candidate, contrary to
the February 19, 2019 judgment of the Federal High Court sitting in
Enugu that nullified his candidature.
The court had declared
that Ezeh was not properly nominated by the ruling party, being a member
of opposition Peoples Democratic Party during the primary election of
the APC.
The court had further ruled that the plaintiff,
Ogbu-Aguocha, who came second in the APC senatorial primary election
held on October 2, 2018, was the rightful candidate since Uchenna
Ezemba, who won the primary, had voluntarily stepped down.
Ezemba had, shortly after the primary election, announced her withdrawal
to pave the way for Ezeh, who lost his bid to clinch the PDP ticket.
Ezeh, after his defeat in the PDP senatorial primary, defected to the APC where he was given the party’s ticket.
Share your thoughts