Imo North Senatorial poll: Court orders INEC to issue Ararume certificate of return within 72 hours

Senator Ifeanyi Ararume, Thursday, got a reprieve as a Federal High Court in Abuja declared him winner of Imo North Senatorial District.

The court ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to declare him as the winner of the December 5, 2020 bye-election.

The Imo North Senatorial seat became vacant following the death of Senator Benjamin Uwajumogu of the APC in December 2019.

The dispute over candidacy from the primary left the APC without a candidate in the December 5, 2020 senatorial election but the party went ahead to poll 36, 811 votes against 31, 903 votes by the PDP in the six local governments of Obowo, Okigwe, Onuimo, Isiala Mbano, Ehime Mbano, and Ihitte Uboma.

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Meanwhile, Justice Taiwo Oladipupo Taiwo in a judgment on Thursday held that Ararume remained the authentic candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in the bye election and should be declared winner.

The judge also ordered the electoral body to issue Certificate of Return to Ararume within 72 hours from the delivery of the judgment for him to be formally inaugurated by the Senate President.

Justice Taiwo dimissed the preliminary objection filed by the APC and one Chukwuma Francis Ibezim, challenging the jurisdiction of the court to entertain Ararume’s suit.

The judge held that the objection lacked merit because Ibezim being purported by APC as its candidate in the bye-election had been disqualified by a federal high court and later Court of Appeal for supplying false information to INEC to secure clearance for participation in the election.

Ararume had, through his counsel, Ahmed Raji (SAN) told Justice Taiwo to invoke the judgments of a Federal High Court and that of Appeal Court to disqualify Ibezim and declare him as the rightful candidate for APC.

Raji said that the judgments of the high court and later the Court of Appeal had conclusively disqualified Ibezim and could not claim to be an aspirant or candidate in the Imo North Senatatorial election.

In opposing Ararume’s suit, APC had told court that it never fielded Ararume for the last year December senatorial bye-election in Imo state.

The party had insisted that Ararume lacked locus standi to lay claim to the candidacy because he did not even come second in the primary election conducted for candidate nomination and urged the court to dismiss his suit.

Ararume had dragged the INEC, APC and Ibezim through the Federal High Court praying for an order to compel INEC to recognize him as APC senatorial candidate in the election won by the party

He claimed that Ibezim, having been disqualified by a Federal High Court on account of supplying false information to INEC to secure clearance and the disquaification, having been upheld by the Court of Appeal in Abuja, had knocked off Ibezim from laying any claim to the outcome of the by-election.

But the APC, through its counsel, Osho Daudu, asked the court to discontenance Ararume’s claims, insisting that his name was never forwarded to INEC but that of Chukwuma Francis Ibezim.

The counsel submitted that a federal high court judgment delivered in Owerri, Imo State, which erroneously conferred locus on Ararume had been voided by Supreme Court and cannot confer any advantage on the plaintiff.

Emma Osayomi, representing Ibezim, in his own submissions had said that his client has approached the Supreme Court to challenge his disqualification on account of variation in his name.

The counsel argued that as at the election day, the name of his client was on the INEC list and not that of Ararume and urged the court to dismiss Ararume’s claims and hold that Chukwuemeka Francis remains the APC candidate.

Recall, the Supreme Court had on February 5, 2021 dismissed two appeals by Senator Ifeanyi Ararume and declared Frank Ibezim the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the Imo North Senatorial District in the December 5, 2020 bye-election.

A five-member panel of the apex court presided by Justice Amina Augie upheld the earlier judgements of the Court of Appeal in Owerri and Federal High Court in Owerri.

In the lead judgment read by Justice Tijani Abubakar, the apex court held that “the lower court (Court of Appeal) was right in coming to the conclusion that the first respondent (Ibezim) was shut out and denied of his right to be heard as a necessary party in the suit at the trial court (Federal High Court).

“Therefore, the proceedings of the trial court constitute a nullity and must be struck out. Appellant’s appeal, therefore, lacked merit and it is hereby dismissed.”

The apex court directed that the judgments should be applied to the cross-appeal, marked: SC/1060/2020 filed Dr Edith Chidinma Uwajimogu, in which she sought to have Ararume declared as the candidate of the APC.