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‘Seun Ibukun-Oni, Abuja

 

Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, was omitted as the APC does not have any candidate for Yobe North Senatorial district while the name of former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, was published as the APC candidate for Akwa Ibom North-West Senatorial District.

 

Lawan and Bashir Machina have been locked in a long drawn battle over the ticket of the ruling party for Yobe North which Lawan currently represents.

 

However, Godswill Akpabio, former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, made the list as the APC candidate for Akwa Ibom North-West Senatorial District.

 

Earlier in the week, a Federal High Court in Abuja had ordered INEC to accept and publish Akpabio’s name as the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the Akwa Ibom North-West District for the 2023 elections.

 

Governor David Umahi also made the final list of candidates for the 2023 senatorial election in Ebonyi State.

 

Umahi was earlier omitted from the list of candidates released in June following controversy which trailed his emergence as the candidate of the All Progressive Congress(APC) for the election.

 

The Governor contested for the Presidential primary of the party which he lost to Asiwaju Bola Tinubu while his younger brother, Austin, won the Ebonyi South senatorial primary of the party in May.

 

However, after the primary, the younger Umahi stepped down for the Governor leading to a rerun primary, which Umahi contested unopposed.

 

But the Independent National Electoral Commission refused to list his name as the candidate and chose to leave the position vacant.

 

Umahi dragged INEC to court seeking where he urged the Federal High Court to compel the electoral umpire to accept his name as candidate of the party.

 

But, the runner-up to the first primary, Ann Agom-Eze joined the suit and urged the court to recognize her as the candidate of the party.

 

Justice Fatun Riman in his ruling, however, ordered for another primary with Agom Eze and any other interested fresh candidates allowed to take part.

 

Mrs Agom-Eze, not satisfied with the ruling, appealed the judgement at the Appeal Country in Enugu and filed for a stay of execution.

 

But the APC in Ebonyi obtained an order of the Federal High Court to go ahead with the primary which Mr Umahi won even as the matter at the appeal court is still on.