Court orders fresh election of Enugu LP gov candidate, nullifies Edeoga selection

The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has nullified the selection of Mr Chijioke Edeoga as the candidate of the Labour Party in Enugu State for the 2023 governorship election.

Justice Nkonye Evelyn MahaV in a judgement on Wednesday also ordered a fresh primary election within 14 days.

The case was instituted by Captain Evarest Nnaji over his unlawful exclusion from the primary election of August 4, 2022,

Justice Maha said that the Labour Party failed to provide evidence of notice of the August 4 primary election which would have made all the Governorship aspirants of the party participate in the election.

Nnaji had gone to court to challenge the conduct of the gubernatorial primary election in Enugu state that excluded him.

Irked that the party played a fast one on him through unlawful exclusion from the primary election, Evarest Nnaji, popularly referred to as Odengene, approached the Abuja court to determine if his exclusion was lawful or not.

Nnaji sued the Labour Party and the INEC, asking among other things to recognise him as the authentic governorship candidate of the LP in Enugu state for the 2023 election or a repeat of the primary election that will include the three aspirants that were already issued with INEC nomination forms before the one-man primary election that produced Edeoga.