As Nigerians prepare to go to the polls, the All Progressives Congress, APC, governorship candidate in Enugu State, Sen. Ayogu Eze has pleaded with the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to include his name in the governorship elections as directed by an Abuja Appeal Court.
Addressing journalists in Enugu on Friday, Eze poined out that barely few hours to the election, INEC was yet to include his name in the race.
Eze claimed that the removal of his name from the commission’s final list of governorship candidates for the election a few days before the election was a deliberate attempt by the electoral umpire to punish him and create room for its preferred candidate and party.
He accused INEC of being partisan in a matter where it should otherwise have been impartial.
“Even after the Abuja division of the Court of Appeal overturned the decision of the Federal High Court which formed the basis for INEC’s action, the commission has bluntly refused to retune my name to the final list on the INEC official portal 24 hours after they were served the order of the court,’’ Eze said.
He alleged that INEC was colluding with unknown forces to rob him of his victory in Saturday’s election, adding that his supporters were still confused whether they would participate in the election or not because of the development.
READ ALSO: Elections: CDD lists Lagos, Kano among nine battleground states
Recall that the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja on Thursday ruled that Sen. Eze remained the true governorship candidate of the APC in Enugu State.
Ruling on the substantive suit by Eze challenging his removal by Federal High Court, the panel of judges led by Justice Abdul Aboki upheld the prayers of Eze in which he prayed that he was the duly elected candidate of the party.
The court held that “what happened at the lower court was a miscarriage of justice as Mr George Ogara has no case in the first place. Ogara filed after 14 days of the result being published as allowed by law, so the lower court had no jurisdiction to entertain his case.”
the appellate court therefore, directed the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC to immediately restore the name of Sen. Ayogu Eze as the candidate of the party.
Polls open in a few hours time.
