The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Imo State has been thrown in yet another legal crisis as the Court of Appeal sitting in Owerri, Imo State, on Friday, sacked Senator Ifeanyi Araraume as the candidate of the party for the Imo North by-election.
The judgment, which was delivered by Justice Uchechukwu Onyemenam, came less than 24 hours to the bye-election which is expected to take place on Saturday, December 5, in the 64 wards across the six Local Government Areas.
The judge declared Frank Ibezim as the authentic candidate of the APC ahead of the election, faulting the November 6 judgment of the Federal High Court which sacked Ibezim and announced Araraume as the rightful winner of APC primary election.
Ararume represented the district between 1999 and 2007.
The justice ordered INEC to immediately enlist Ibezim’s name as the candidate of the party for the bye-election.
He said that the revalidation of the candidacy of Ibezim was in tandem with the electoral act, having won the APC primary election in September.
Meanwhile, also today, a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja disqualified Ibezim as the APC candidate for the upcoming election.
In the judgment delivered on Friday, Justice Inyang Ekwo said Ibezim was disqualified from contesting the election on the grounds that he made false statements/declarations in the affidavit and documents he submitted to the APC and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), wherein he presented falsified and uncertified photocopies of West African Examination Council (WAEC) certificate.
Justice Ekwo found that the WASC certificate he submitted ” bears two different and irreconcilable names – Ibezim Chukwuma Frank and Ibezim Francis Chukwuma.
The judge ordered INEC to remove his name from the list of candidates for the by-election.
The two questions on the minds of many now are:
Who will INEC recognize as the lawful candidate of APC in the election that is about to take place in less than 24hours?
Will APC have no candidate for election as it happened in Rivers State Governorship election in 2019?
