Former Chairman of the Abia State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Emma Nwaka has filed a suit at the Federal High Court, Abuja, seeking the nullification of the special primary election from which Chief Ambrose Okechukwu Ahaiwe emerged as the party’s candidate replacing the late governorship candidate, Prof Uche Ikonne, who died on January 25, 2023.

The applicant participated in the said party primary held at Umuahia township stadium on February 4, 2023, as directed by the PDP national leadership.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and Ahaiwe are the first and second defendants in the suit.

Besides praying for the nullification of Ahaiwe’s emergence as the governorship candidate, the applicant also urged the court to determine if Ahaiwe was duly nominated as governorship candidate, having not originally aspired for the ticket.

The special primary election committee, which had Edo state Governor, Godwin Obaseki as chairman, had announced and declared Ahaiwe as the winner with 469 votes or 91 per cent of the 516 ballots cast by delegates.

But Nwaka, who participated in the party’s first and second primaries, contended that he (Ahaiwe) was not qualified to participate in the special primary because he did not participate in the first governorship primary held on May 25, 2022.

He wants the court to determine if “fresh primary” as used in Section 33 of the Electoral Act for a political party to replace a deceased candidate, implies fresh nominations and participation of new aspirants, who did not participate in the original primary.

He requested that if the court so determines that the nomination and participation of Ahaiwe, who is the third defendant in the suit was a violation of Section 33 of the Electoral Act 2022, the fresh/ special primary should be declared a nullity.

“That where the court declares the Special Primary a nullity, it should consider making an order compelling PDP (the second defendant) to conduct a fresh primary, where only the governorship aspirants that participated in the original primary held on May 25, 2022 from which the late Ikonne emerged, should be eligible to participate.

In the alternative, the applicant suggested that the court could invoke Section 84(13) and issue an order compelling INEC not to accept Ahaiwe as the governorship candidate of Abia State PDP for the 2023 general election.