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Imo North: End of road for Araraume as Supreme Court declares Ibezim senator-elect  

Anthony Iwuoma

 

Imo North Senatorial District of Imo State exploded in rapturous jubilation on Friday  when the Supreme brought to an end a protracted battle over who represents the zone in the Red Chamber of the National Assembly.

The duo of Sir Frak Ibezim, a former Commisioner in the state and Senator Ifeanyi Araraume, a former two-term senator,  had been locked in a bitter duel over who was the authentic candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC,  in the December 5, 2020 by-election was.

 The by-election was necessitated by the death of Senator Benjamin Uwajumogu late 2019, a development that had left the zone as the only one without a representative in the senate.

 Ibezim had actually emerged victorious from the fractious party primaries but Araraume, who also claimed victory from a parallel primary election, rejected Ibezim’s candidature, leading to a plethora of court action, which has dragged for close to five months.

 However, the Supreme Court in its landmark unanimous decision upturned the decision of the Federal High Court, Abuja, which was affirmed by the  Court of Appeal, invalidating Ibezim’s candidature due to alleged certificate forgery.

 The apex court in its decision delivered by Justice Emmanuel Agim, held that the suit, which resulted in Ibezim’s disqualification for alleged perjury to secure nomination was statute barred because it was not filed within 14 days of the action.

He stated that the suit violated Section 285 of the 1999 by failing to comply with the compulsory 14 days within which such a suit must be filed.

 The apex court, therefore, held that the disqualification of Ibezim based on a faulty ground was a nullity because it failed to meet the requirement for the burden of proof for false information allegations, as required by law.

Justice Agim ruled that Ibezim’s appeal against the judgments of both the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal was meritorious, enforceable  and so granted it.

 The Supreme Court declared Ibezim as flag bearer of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the December 5, 2020 by-election and also as winner of the election.

 With the latest ruling by the apex court, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which had announced the APC winner of the by-election without returning any candidate, is now expected to formally declare Ibezim winner and issue him with Certificate of Return thereby paving the way for his inauguration as the distinguished senator for Imo North.

 Ibezim’s hard won victory is seen by many as the dawn of a new light for Imo North and end of the road for Araraume’s quest to continue to dominate politics of the zone.

 

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