The Federal High Court in Abuja has nullified the emergence of Senator Sunday Karimi as the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for the Kogi West Senatorial District in the 2027 general elections.
The court also ordered the APC to immediately forward the name of Bamidele Aro, who challenged Karimi’s emergence, to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the party’s lawful candidate for the senatorial election.
Justice Salim Ibrahim, who delivered the judgment on Wednesday, further directed Karimi to stop parading himself as the APC’s candidate for Kogi West in the forthcoming elections.
The judge held that Aro had successfully established his case and was entitled to all the reliefs sought in the suit.
Ibrahim ruled that the primary election won by Aro was conducted by the APC National Working Committee’s Election Committee and monitored by INEC, while the purported exercise that produced Karimi was not monitored by the electoral commission.
He consequently declared the primary that produced the incumbent senator invalid, citing the failure to comply with the mandatory provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022.
The judge explained that INEC had no record of the results of the primary election allegedly won by Karimi, adding that the commission could not issue a certified true copy of the purported results despite a formal request by the senator.
He specifically referred to Exhibit 7b, a letter dated June 15, which Karimi had written to INEC requesting the certified true copy of the results.
Justice Ibrahim said the absence of INEC’s records further supported the conclusion that the primary that produced Karimi was not monitored by the commission.
He held that Sections 84(1) and 84(12) of the Electoral Act, 2022, made it mandatory for INEC to monitor political parties’ primaries, stressing that failure to comply with the requirement rendered such an exercise invalid.
According to the judge, the law requires INEC to observe and monitor the nomination of candidates by political parties in line with the relevant provisions of the Electoral Act.
He further maintained that the aspirant who secured the highest number of votes in a valid party primary was entitled to be declared the winner and issued the relevant nomination documents for submission to INEC.
Consequently, the court directed INEC to publish Aro’s name as the APC candidate for Kogi West Senatorial District in the 2027 general elections.
The suit was instituted by Aro against the APC, Karimi and INEC, listed as the first, second and third defendants respectively.
Aro had approached the court seeking an order declaring him the winner of the APC senatorial primary conducted on May 18.
He also asked the court to invalidate the subsequent submission of Karimi’s name to INEC as the party’s candidate for the 2027 election.
However, the defendants had urged the court to dismiss the suit, arguing that it was statute-barred.
Karimi’s counsel, John Olusola Baiyeshea (SAN), argued that the primary election was conducted on May 18, while the senator’s name was submitted to INEC on June 29.
He contended that Aro filed his suit in late July, outside the 14-day period prescribed by Section 285(9) of the 1999 Constitution for instituting pre-election matters.
Counsel to INEC, Dayo Akinlaja (SAN), and the APC’s lawyer, A.G. Ivom, also challenged the competence of the suit and urged the court to dismiss it.
But Aro’s counsel, Johnson Usman (SAN), faulted the defendants’ arguments, insisting that documentary evidence, including the results obtained from INEC, established that his client won the primary.
He urged the court to recognise Aro as the rightful winner and direct INEC to publish his name as the party’s candidate.
The suit was initially instituted at the Lokoja division of the Federal High Court but was subsequently transferred to the Abuja division over security concerns.
The judgment represents a major setback for Karimi’s political ambition ahead of the 2027 general elections, as the court’s orders effectively recognise Aro as the APC’s candidate for the Kogi West senatorial contest.
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