On the 21st of February 2023, the Court of Appeal in Abuja made a ruling that removed Michael Enyong as the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) candidate for governor of Akwa Ibom State. Umo Eno, who used to be a Commissioner for Land, was reinstated in his place.
This decision meant that the ruling from a Federal High Court in Abuja on January 20, 2023, was no longer valid.
In making the ruling on an appeal by the PDP, Justice Hamma Akawu Barka stated that the lower court’s decision was based on errors.
He agreed with the lawyers for the PDP, Paul Usoro (SAN) and Uwemedimo Nwoko (SAN), that the Federal High Court made a mistake because the plaintiff lied to it.
The appeals court held that the issue of statutory delegates who voted in the primary is a party matter, and the lower court should not have looked into it.
Justice Barka also concurred with Usoro that a political party’s National Working Committee (NWC) is the only group that can hold primaries to choose candidates for the general election.
Additionally, the appellate court stated that since the lower court did not have the power to look into PDP’s internal business, the judge couldn’t use his or her own judgment in the case.
Justice Barka agreed with the PDP’s appeal and threw out all of the orders made in favour of Enyong.
As a result, Enyong, who represents the Uyo Federal Constituency, was instructed by the court to pay the appellant N1 million to cover the cost of the case.
The ruling of the Court of Appeal brings to a conclusion the legal battle between Enyong and Eno over the PDP gubernatorial ticket in Akwa Ibom state.
It should be noted that Enyong was declared the winner of the PDP primary on September 30, 2022, having polled 1,114 votes against Eno's 1,065.
However, Eno challenged Enyong's victory in court, alleging that the primary was flawed, and statutory delegates were excluded from the process.
On January 20, 2023, the Federal High Court in Abuja ruled in Eno's favour, nullifying Enyong's candidacy and ordering the PDP to conduct a fresh primary that included statutory delegates.
Enyong appealed the decision, and the Court of Appeal in Abuja has now overturned the ruling. The decision means that Eno will now contest the Akwa Ibom governorship election on the PDP ticket.