The Court of Appeal, Abuja, has upheld the ruling of the Federal High Court which voided the candidature of Uche Nwosu as Governorship Flagbearer of the Action Alliance in the 2019 general election in Imo State over double nomination.
In its ruling in a matter brought to it by the Action Peoples Party (APP), the Federal High Court had held that Uche Nwosu was not qualified to stand for the election based on the fact that he already had a valid ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Not satisfied with the ruling of the lower court, Nwosu approached the Court of Appeal to put the decision to further test.
The Court dismissed all issues raised by Nwosu in his appeal.
According to the Court, the act of double nomination was “immoral.”
The effect of this judgment is that Uche Nwosu was not a valid candidate at the recently held gubernatorial election in Imo state. The further implication is that all the votes given to Nwosu at that election are void votes. Further, even in the Court of Appeal or subsequently the Supreme court decides to dabble into calculation of majority of votes cast in at least two-thirds of all the local governments in Imo State, Uche Nwosu’s votes will not be taken into account because at law they are taken as not to have existed in the first place.
Delivering judgment on the matter with the suit number CA/A/785/2019, the Court of Appeal upheld the decision of the Federal High Court and went ahead to award the cost of N100,000 against Nwosu in favour of the respondents; Action Peoples Party, National Vice Chairman of APP, Uche Nnadi, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC)
On Tuesday, October 22, the Supreme Court unanimously allowed Emeka Ihedioha’s appeal, setting aside the judgment of the Court of Appeal and restoring the ruling of the tribunal wherein AA was struck out.
Source: https://www.sunnewsonline.com/appeal-court-voids-nwosus-candidature-over-double-nomination/
