Sources said that this was gleaned from proceedings at the Abuja High Court presided over by Honourable Justice Inyang Eden Ekwo that the final judgement would be read very soon, the scheduled date of the election notwithstanding. And should the inevitable happens, it would be the umpteenth time the party will be walking the path of ignominy simply because it repeatedly failed to institute internal discipline and respect for not just its own laws, but the copious provisions of the nation’s Electoral Act, especially Section 87.
For this reason, all the other political parties participating in the coming election have been holding their hearts in their palms, wishing that the APC misses a step as it currently wobbles along on this latest case.
Sources said that no one would shed any tears for the APC because, just as a chieftain of the party stated, “it’s a self-inflicted injury because similar issues had happened in the recent past to the party in Zamfara, Rivers and Bayelsa states. So, should same happen in Anambra State this time, it would just be following a pattern for the party, since they appear to have refused to learn from the past.”
However, the severity of the acrimony apparently pushed the other camp to go to court and got the list, and the primary election that generated same nullified -as failing to follow stipulated process. So, though the party won the election, it lost it in all categories- the governorship, all National and State Assembly seats to the second placed participants. The losses were huge and costly and no one had expected the party to box itself to a similar corner again, not even in Anambra State.
Another source said the fears of this Moghalu’s suit is currently palpable in Anambra because while other candidates like Chief Valentine Ozigbo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr Godwin Maduka of the Accord Party, Dr. Obiora Okonkwo of the Zenith Labour Party and Prof Chukwuma Soludo were busy crisscrossing the state campaigning and meeting groups and citizens, the APC candidate appear timid and intimidated by its own acts already. Even the opportunities presented by Governorship Candidates Debates were not utilised at all, as he stayed away from all such platforms.
Sources said that the failure of the ruling party to use her internal mechanismsto resolve the primary election impasse was read and interpreted as either that it doesn’t reckon with the members there, or that it knows the truth but was too reluctant to confront and acknowledge it.
According to the prayers brought before the court by Moghalu, a key aspirant of the party in the June 26 primary election, sought nullify the primary election and order a fresh one. Moghalu had also alleged that the Electoral Act and the party’s (APC) guidelines were brazenly truncated in the purported primary claimed to have been conducted on June 26.
The documents filed before the court by his counsel, Chief Chris Uche SAN, Chief Moghalu lamented that the application forms called Nomination/Expression of Interest forms cost him and other aspirants a whopping N23 million each, whereas “no primary election known to law was conducted by the party.”
He presented copies of the official report of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) which confirmed that no primary election was conducted within the time stipulated by law. In addition he cited Section 87 of the Electoral Act and Guidelines of the party (APC) that outlined the time to conduct any primary election to be between 8 a.m and 4 p.m. of the given date.
He told the court that he and other delegates who had turned out to cast their votes, as well as INEC officials who came to monitor the process waited till 7pm on June 26, 2021 without seeing party officials billed to conduct the primary election as planned. That they all left the venue/s when the reality dawned on them that no election would be conducted.
The applicant said he was shocked when the following day the party announced that it had conducted a purported primary election and that one Emmanuel Andy Uba won. In the foregoing therefore he urged Justice Inyang Eden Ekwo to nullify the purported primary election and order a fresh one as there was no primary election by the party on June 26.
His other prayers are: delist the APC and Uba from the Nov 6 election in the state; refund all expenses of the rest 13 aspirants including the N23 million spent on the Nomination and Expression of Interest forms; and then pay him N100 million compensation for damages. APC Chairman in the state, Chief Basil Ejidike failed to pick his calls, but the party’s Publicity Secretary, Ohelo Madukaife, said the election would be won by his party.
Asked whether he was disturbed by possible outcome of Moghalu’s suit, he said “Elections are governed by the laws of the land and there is nothing in the suit which said that APC should not present candidate for the election.”
