By Yemi Oyeyemi, Abuja
Less than 20 days to the November 6 governorship election in Anambra State, a federal high court in Abuja has been asked to nullify the primary election of the All Progressive Congress (APC) which produced Senator Emmanuel Andy Uba as its governorship candidate.
A governorship aspirant of the APC in Anambra, Chief George Moghalu, in a suit on Monday alleged that the Electoral Act and APC guidelines were brazenly raped in a purported primary claimed to have been conducted in June this year.
In the suit instituted on his behalf by Chief Chris Uche SAN, the plaintiff who claimed to have bought a nomination form for a whopping N23 million asserted that no primary election known to law was conducted by the party.
The governorship aspirant tendered the report of the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC which confirmed that no primary election was conducted within the time stipulated by law.
The APC chieftain cited section 87 of the Electoral Act and guidelines of the party which stipulated that primary election must be conducted between 8 a.m and 4 p.m.
Plaintiff averred that he and delegates as well as INEC officials waited till 7pm on the primary election day without seeing party officials billed to conduct the election.
The APC chieftain further stated that the INEC officials, delegates and himself left the venue when the reality dawned on them that no election would be conducted.
He said that he was shocked the following day when the party announced that it had conducted a purported primary election and that one Emmanuel Andy Uba had won.
Plaintiff therefore asked Justice Inyang Eden Ekwo to nullify the purported primary election and order a fresh one.
In the alternative, Moghalu prayed for an order of the court compelling the party to refund the N23m he paid for the nomination form and expression of interest.