Akwa Ibom: Appeal Court Restores Umo Eno Guber Nomination

The Court of Appeal Abuja has sacked a member of the House of Representatives Micheal Enyong as the governorship candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) for Akwa Ibom State.

The Court restored Mister Umo Eno whose nomination by the party was set aside by a Federal High Court in Abuja on January 20, 2023.

Delivering judgment on Tuesday, Justice Hamma Barka voided the judgment of the Federal High Court and set it aside on the ground that it was predicated on errors.

Justice Barka agreed with counsels to Umo Eno that the Federal High Court judgment was delivered in error and that the court was misled by the plaintiff in the matter to arrive at an Unjust conclusion.

The appellate court held that the issue of statutory delegates who voted at the primary election is an internal affair of the party and that the lower court ought not to have enquired into the issue.

Justice Barka also agreed that it’s only the National Working Committee of a political party that has the power to conduct primary elections for the purpose of the nomination of candidates for the general election.

The appellate court further held that since the lower court has no jurisdiction to inquire into the internal affairs of PDP, the Judge has no discretion in law to exercise in the matter.

Justice Barka thereafter upheld the appeal of the PDP and vacated all orders made by the Federal High Court judgment in favour of Michael Enyong.

The Court further ordered mister Michael Enyong, to pay N1m to the appellant as a cost of litigation.