July 19, (THEWILL) – Victory has finally smiled on former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Professor , as he got reinstated through a court order as the Governorship Candidate of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) for the November 6 gubernatorial election in the state.
A Federal High Court sitting in Awka, Anambra State, made the pronouncement a few hours ago, junking an earlier pronouncement by another court that nullified Soludo’s victory at the party primaries.
Delivering judgement on Monday, the presiding Judge, Justice Charles Okay, ruled in support of the application before her, recognising Victor Ike-Oye as the National Chairman of the party.
The court upheld the 23rd June APGA primaries that produced Soludo as the candidate of the party for the November 6 polls.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had last week published the name of a member of the Federal House of Representatives, Chukwuma Michael Umeoji as the candidate of APGA in the Anambra State governorship election.
INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Barrister Festus Okoye, said the decision to drop Soludo and others was based on obedience to court orders served on INEC in relation to the primaries of the political parties and other processes leading to the election.
THEWILL reports that prior to the primary elections, APGA had been locked in a leadership crisis with two factions claiming supremacy.
While the Victor Oye-led faction conducted the primaries that produced the former CBN boss, the Jude Okeke faction declared Soludo suspended and went ahead to conduct a parallel primary poll that named Umeoji as the APGA candidate.
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