The Supreme Court declared Senator Athan Achonu to be the legitimate candidate for the Labor Party on Thursday, ahead of the Imo State Governorship race on November 11.
If Achonu wins the upcoming election, he could become Nigeria’s first physically challenged governor. Achonu lost one of his arms in 1970.
Platinum Times notes that after the party’s primary election, one of the candidates for governor, Basil Maduka, objected to and contested Achonu’s candidacy at both the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal.
The Supreme Court, in its decision on the subject on Thursday, dismissed the case on the grounds that it lacked locus standi.
The appellant was also warned by a five-judge panel chaired by Iyang Okoro for misusing the legal system and taking up unnecessary court time in lower courts.
The Independent National Electoral Commission, or INEC, and Joseph Ukaegbu, also known as Ikenga, the candidate for the Lamidi Apapa-led group, were two additional respondents in the case.
The Labour Party’s legal representative, Barrister Okwudili Anozie, told reporters shortly after the verdict that the matter surrounding Achonu’s candidacy had been resolved.
He said,
“Today at the Supreme Court, the antics of Basil Maduka and his accomplice Joseph Ukaegbu, alias Ikenga, was put to an end as they met their waterloo at the Apex Court.
“Today was a culmination of their deceit and lies to Imolites spanning from their misrepresentation of the true position of the judgments of the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal.
“Upon the exposure and collapse of their lies before the Supreme Court today, Basil’s Counsel, with tails in between his legs, immediately withdrew his subterfuge appeal that was aimed at giving credence to Ukaegbu’s sham, non-existent primaries”.