By Joy Yesufu
The Federal High Court in Abuja has nullified the emergence of Senator Sunday Karimi as the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for the 2027 Kogi West Senatorial District election, declaring Bamidele Aro the lawful winner of the party’s primary.
Justice Salim Ibrahim, in a judgment delivered on Wednesday, ordered Karimi to stop parading himself as the APC’s senatorial candidate for the district ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The court also directed the APC to immediately forward Aro’s name to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as its candidate, while ordering the electoral body to publish his name as the party’s duly nominated candidate.
Justice Ibrahim held that Aro had successfully established his case and was entitled to all the reliefs sought in the suit.
In arriving at the decision, the judge said the evidence before the court showed that the primary election won by Aro was conducted by the APC’s National Working Committee (NWC) Election Committee and monitored by INEC.
He, however, noted that the purported primary which produced Karimi was not monitored by the electoral commission and was consequently invalid.
The judge further observed that INEC had no record of the results of the primary Karimi claimed to have won.
He said, “No wonder, the 3rd defendant (INEC) did not give them the certified true copy of same even after being applied for by the 2nd defendant (Karimi) to the 3rd defendant by a letter dated June 15.”
Justice Ibrahim cited Exhibit 7b, tendered by Karimi, in support of his finding.
He maintained that the monitoring of political party primaries by INEC was a mandatory requirement under the Electoral Act, 2022, stressing that any primary conducted without the commission’s monitoring could not be regarded as valid.
According to him, Sections 84(1) and (12) of the Electoral Act, 2022, provide the legal framework governing the conduct of party primaries and the nomination of candidates.
“The law is settled that for a party primary to be valid, the INEC/2nd Cross/Respondent has to mandatorily observe, and monitor the nomination of the party’s candidate in line with the requirement of Sections 82(2)(b) and 84(1) of the Electoral Act, 2022,” he said.
The judge further held that the aspirant who secured the highest number of votes in a valid party primary was entitled to be declared the winner and issued the relevant nomination documents for submission to INEC.
Justice Ibrahim consequently granted all the reliefs sought by Aro, including an order compelling the APC to recognise him as its candidate for the Kogi West senatorial seat.
The suit had the APC, Karimi and INEC listed as the first, second and third defendants, respectively.
Aro had approached the court seeking, among other reliefs, a declaration that he won the APC senatorial primary conducted on May 18.
He also sought an order setting aside the party’s subsequent submission of Karimi’s name to INEC as its candidate for the Kogi West Senatorial District election.
The suit was initially instituted at the Lokoja division of the Federal High Court but was subsequently transferred to the Abuja division over security concerns.
During proceedings, counsel to Karimi, John Olusola Baiyeshea, SAN; counsel to INEC, Dayo Akinlaja, SAN; and counsel to the APC, A.G. Ivom, challenged the competence of the suit and urged the court to dismiss it for being statute-barred.
Baiyeshea argued that the primary election was conducted on May 18, while Karimi’s name was submitted to INEC on June 29. He contended that Aro did not institute the suit until late July, outside the 14-day period stipulated under Section 285(9) of the Constitution for filing pre-election matters.
However, counsel to Aro, Johnson Usman, SAN, faulted the defendants’ arguments, insisting that sufficient evidence, including results obtained from INEC, established that his client won the primary election.
Usman urged the court to declare Aro the winner and direct INEC to publish his name as the APC candidate for the Kogi West Senatorial District election.
The court subsequently granted the reliefs sought by the plaintiff.
