Delta Ex Speaker Ochei Asks Court to Nullify APC Guber Primary

A former Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly, Hon. Victor Ochei, on Thursday asked the Federal High Court in Abuja to nullify the recently conducted All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship primary election that produced Great Ogboru as candidate of the state APC for the 2019 general election.

Ochei in the suit, which has the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), APC and Ogboru as defendants, wants the court to declare that the primary election conducted by the APC in the state on September 30, 2018, was illegal on the grounds that delegates who participated in it were not known to law.

The plaintiff, in the suit filed by his lawyer, Ahmed Raji SAN, averred that the Federal High Court judgment by Justice Anwuri Chikere delivered on June 19 in Abuja where the list of delegates of APC in Delta State was authenticated by the court was violated by the national leadership of the party to conduct the primary election.

Ochei said contrary to the contents of the judgment of the court, the APC leadership went out of its way to jettison the court judgment and used unknown delegates for the September 30 primary election.

He, therefore, asked the court to nullify the purported primary election on the grounds that it was unlawful, unjust and deliberately carried out in disregard of judicial sanctity.

The plaintiff also prayed the court for an order compelling the APC to immediately conduct a fresh primary election with the list of delegates endorsed in the consent judgment of the Federal High Court.

The governorship aspirant also prayed for an order of perpetual injunction restraining INEC or its agents from accepting, recognising or utilising the name of Chief Great Ogboru who purportedly emerged as the winner of the state 2019 governorship primary election.

In a 40-paragraph affidavit in support of the suit, the former speaker claimed that he was denied fair participation in the primary election in spite of his payment of N22.5million for Expression of Interest and nomination forms.

He further averred that the order of court was brazenly violated by the national leadership of the APC in the conduct of the primary election by deviating from a subsisting court judgment and that unless the court intervenes, the governorship election in Delta State will produce a product of fraud.

When the matter came up yesterday before Justice Nnamdi Dimgba, counsel for APC and Ogboru, Chief Adeniyi Akintola, said he has filed necessary processes on behalf of his clients against the originating summon.

Justice Nnamdi Dimgba has however fixed November 13 for adoption of all processes filed in respect of the case.