BREAKING: Imo Bye-Election: Appeal Court Disqualifies Ararume APC’s candidate

Ahead of December 5 Imo North Senatorial bye- election, an Appeal Court sitting in Owerri, Imo State, has disqualified Senator Ifeanyi Ararume of the All Progressives Congress (APC) from participating in the election.

The court ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to immediately replace Ararume’s name with Mr Frank Ibezim as the authentic candidate of APC in the election.

Delivering the Judgment on Friday, the five-man panel headed by Justice Uchechukwu Onyemenam noted that the November 6 judgment of Federal High Court in Owerri which earlier declared Ararume as the authentic Candidate has no jurisdiction under law to entertain the matter.

It ruled that Ararume should be disqualified, directing the electoral umpire to replace Ararume’s name with Frank Ibezim.

With this development, Ibezim will be contesting with 13 others on Saturday to represent Imo north in the National Assembly.

Meanwhile, the Federal High Court in Abuja has disqualified Chukwuma Francis Ibezim as the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

This is coming a few hours after an appeal court sitting in Owerri, the state capital, declared Ibezim as the authentic candidate of the APC after a legal battle with Ifeanyi Ararume, an aspirant.

Justice Inyang Ekwo, in a judgment on Friday, disqualified Ibezim from contesting the election on the grounds that he made false statements/declarations in the affidavit and documents he submitted to the APC and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), wherein he presented falsified and uncertified photocopies of West African Examination Council (WAEC) certificate.

Justice Ekwo found that the WASC certificate he submitted” bears two different and irreconcilable names – Ibezim Chukwuma Frank and Ibezim Francis Chukwuma.

The judge ordered INEC to remove his name from the list of candidates for the bye-election.

The judgement was on a suit marked:FHC/ABJ/CS/1229/2020 filed by Asomugha Tony Elebeke, with Ibezim, APC and INEC as defendants.

Bye-elections will also be conducted simultaneously in 10 other states across the country.

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