Akpabio faces setback as he seeks senate return with Inec and court both recognising his opponent

FORMER Niger Delta Affairs minister Godswill Akpabio has suffered a major setback after an Abuja high court refused his request to stop an opponent from standing as the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate in the Akwa Ibom North West Senatorial District.

Senator Akpabio, who governed Akwa Ibom State from 2007 to 2015, then served as a senator between 2015 and 2019. Before the 2019 elections, however, he defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the APC and failed in his bid to return to the senate  but he was appointed as a minister by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Earlier this year, senator Akpabio resigned as the minister for Niger Delta Affairs to seek the APC's presidential ticket, which he lost to former Lagos State governor Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. With elections looming next year, senator Akpabio sought to return to the National Assembly but his path is being blocked by Udom Ekpoudom, a former deputy inspector general of police.

Nigeria's the Independent National Electoral Commission (Inec), recognises Mr Ekpoudom, and not Senator Akpabio as the APC candidate in Akwa Ibom North West. Yesterday, a federal high court in Abuja denied Senator Akpabio's motion to declare him the party's official candidate.

In a response to a motion by Mr Ekpoudom, Justice Donatus Okorowo ordered Inec to produce certified true copies of its report of the May 27 APC primary election for the Akwa Ibom North West District. In addition, the court also ordered Inec to produce a letter or form from APC in which the party submitted the name of its candidate for the Akwa Ibom North West District, as well as the Inec calendar of political parties’ primaries.

Responding, the APC and Senator Akpabio, through their counsel, Umeh Kalu, made a futile attempt to stop the court from granting Mr Ekpoudom’s motion represented. Inec recognises Mr Ekpoudom, and not Senator Akpabio, as the APC candidate for the district for the 2023 election, having monitored the primary that produced him.

However, the APC has refused to submit Mr Ekpoudom’s name to Inec as a candidate, insisting that Senator Akpabio is its candidate. Nigeria's Electoral Act 2022 empowers Inec to reject candidates that emerge from party primaries that it did not monitor.

For now, the matter has been adjourned to July 19, 2022 for hearing. If the court eventually admits as exhibit the Inec report which it ordered the commission to produce, Senator Akpabio’s dream of returning to the Senate in 2023 would have finally come to an end.