Anambra: Ifeanyi Ubah’s YPP drags PDP, APC to court over validity of candidates

Barely four months to the November 2021 Anambra State governorship election, the Young Progressives Party (YPP) has asked a Federal High Court in Awka to nullify the primary elections conducted by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) last month. 

It asked the Court to interpret Section 285 (14)(c) of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), Section 87(1) of the Electoral Act (2010) as amended, and the regulations and guidelines for the conduct of party primaries as provided by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the conduct of the 2021 Anambra State gubernatorial election in view of the primary elections conducted by PDP and the APC last month. 

But the PDP has described the resort to court process as a premature political gimmick that will not yield any fruitful result for the YPP. Top leadership official in a telephone interview with The Guardian, yesterday, said the YPP had no locus in how another party elects its own candidate, especially when that process has not been concluded. 

The YPP, which has produced Senator Ifeanyi Ubah as its own candidate, in the litigation document made available to journalists in Abuja, stated that in view of Rule 4.5.1 and 4.5.2 of the guidelines for the conduct of political parties primaries 2018, the court should determine if the PDP’s primary is valid following the party’s failure to submit its delegates list seven days before the date of the primaries.

In a related development, the YPP also asked the Federal High Court, Awka to determine whether the primaries conducted by the All Progressives Congress (APC) on June 26, 2021, which produced Senator Andy Uba as the party’s flag bearer is void or otherwise.