Ebonyi South: Umahi Wins APC Senatorial ticket

Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State has won the ticket of All Progressive Congress (APC) for the Ebonyi South Senatorial District.

Naija News reports that governor Umahi scored 250 votes to defeat his younger brother, Austine Umahi and three other contenders for the Senatorial ticket.

In the rerun election held at the Afikpo North Local Government headquarters, the governor’s younger brother, Austin’s Umahi polled 10 votes to place a distant second, while another contestant, Ann Agom Eze scored zero votes.

The election witnessed the presence of various security operatives, APC supporters, and reporters, among others.

Recall that the Federal High Court sitting in Abakaliki had declared Agom-Eze as the winner of the Ebonyi South Senatorial election.

She came second in the APC senatorial primary election as the governor’s younger brother came first.

Austine Umahi withdrew from the election and relinquished the ticket to his elder brother even as the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC frowned at the development and omitted Umahi’s name from their published list of candidates for the 2023 general election.

The governor then went to the Federal High Court in Abakaliki, through his counsel, Roy Nweze Umahi, to seek an order of the court for INEC to publish his name as the senatorial candidate for Ebonyi South zone even as Agom-eze also applied to be joined in the suit.

Delivering the landmark judgment, Justice Fatun Riman cited section 115 of the Electoral Act, which forbids a person from standing in two different primary elections in the same year.

He said in his judgment, that such a person if found claiming to have participated in two primary elections risks a two-year jail term.

He further affirmed that the authentic Senatorial candidate for the Ebonyi South zone of the APC was Agom-eze since Austin Umahi withdrew from the race.

The judge said if governor Umahi files an appeal, he stands to gain two years jail bounty.