Court sacks APC national organizing secretary, orders fresh election within 30 days

JUSTICE Nnamdi Dimgba of the Federal High Court in Abuja has restrained Emmanuel Ibediro from parading himself as the National Organizing Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), after voiding the election that brought him into office on the ground that it was inconclusive.

The Judge, in his judgment, ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the APC to ensure that the election into the office of the National Organizing Secretary of the party is concluded or conduct afresh election within 30 days from the date of the judgment.

Justice Dimgba ordered INEC to ensure that the APC complies with its constitution and guidelines in electing its officers.

In addition, the court ordered the electoral body not to accord further recognition to Ibediro or in any way treating him as the National Organizing Secretary of APC.

The court further ordered that the election into the office of the National Organizing Secretary of the APC should be held under INEC’s supervision, where all the duly accredited delegates will be allowed to cast their votes voluntarily and without hindrance.

Justice Dimgba’s judgment was in respect of a suit filed by Senator Osita Izunaso against INEC, APC and Emmanuel Ibediro.

ALSO READ: CBN warns of another looming recession

In the said suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/733/2018, Senator Izunaso challenged the outcome of the election into the office of the National Organizing Secretary of the APC which took place at the party’s National Convention held on June 23 and 24, 2018, at Eagle Square, Abuja, on the ground that it was inconclusive.

The Senator had contested for the disputed post of National Organizing Secretary of the APC, which had been zoned to the South East region of the country, by the APC, along with five other contestants.

At the end of the process, Emmanuel Ibediro was announced as winner of the election for the disputed position with 1, 749 votes, while the plaintiff, Senator Izunaso, who was the occupier of the post prior to the convention election, came second with 1, 459 votes.

In the suit, Senator Izunaso claimed that the election was inconclusive and that Ibediro ought not to have been declared the winner of the election for the post.

He further claimed that thugs numbering about 100 wearing T-shirts with the slogan, “Ugwumba Uche Nwosu, 2019” disrupted the election by preventing delegates from voting.

Izunaso urged the court to declare that the purported return and declaration of Emmanuel Ibediro as the winner of the said election into the office of the National Organizing Secretary of the APC under the supervision of INEC is illegal null and void.