Justice Mohammed Garba Umar of the Federal High Court in Abuja has affirmed Chief Thomas Ereyitomi as the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, for the Warri House of Representatives seat in the 2027 general election.
The judge on Thursday dismissed a suit brought against him by another aspirant for the constituency, Dr Ekpoto Emmanuel, challenging his nomination and submission of his name to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
Emmanuel had in the suit prayed the court to nullify the emergence of Ereyitomi as the candidate of the APC for the Warri Federal Constituency.
His grouse against Ereyitomi’s nomination by APC was that he was a member of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, at the time he stood for the May 16, 2026 primary election that produced him.
The plaintiff urged the court to disqualify Ereyitomi who is the 3rd defendant in the suit and declare him the lawful winner of the primary election, having scored second highest votes in the primary poll.
However, in his judgment, Justice Umar agreed with Ereyitomi, APC and INEC that the case of the plaintiff was membership of a political party.
The judge held that membership of political party is an internal affairs of the APC and cannot be looked into by any law court.
He also held that once the National Working Committee of a political party sets up a screening committee, and all aspirants screened and cleared and proceeded to sell expression of interest and nomination forms to candidates, it is assumed
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