Appeal Court sacks Ararume as the APC’s candidate for Saturday’s bye-election

Barely 24-hours to the bye-election to fill the vacant Imo North Senatorial Seat, the Owerri Division of the Court of Appeal has declared Frank Ibezim as the authentic candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the election.

In declaring Ibezim as the candidate, the court in its judgment delivered by Justice Uchechukwu Onyemenam, sacked Senator Ifeanyi Araraume who had all the while held sway as the party’s flagbearer.

The bye-election is expected to hold on Saturday, December 5, in the 64 wards across the six Local Government Areas that make up the senatorial zone. They include Okigwe, Obowo, Ihitte-Uboma, Isiala-Mbano, Ehime Mbano, and Onuimo councils.

The appellate court faulted the November 6 judgment of the Federal High Court which sacked Ibezim and announced Araraume, who represented the district between 1999 and 2007 as the rightful winner of the APC primary election.

The justice ordered INEC to immediately enlist Ibezim’s name as the candidate of the party for the bye-election.

He said that the revalidation of the candidacy of Ibezim was in tandem with the electoral act, having won the APC primary elections in September.