The Supreme Court restored Umo Eno as the governorship candidate of the PDP for Akwa Ibom State election holding on 11 March.
The Court of Appeal, Abuja, on Tuesday, restored Umo Eno as the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for Akwa Ibom State.
Mr Eno had been battling to reclaim the party's governorship after the Federal High Court in Abuja declared a member of the House of Representatives, Michael Enyong, as the flagbearer of the PDP for the 11 March governorship poll in the state.
A three-member panel of the Court of Appeal led by Hamman Barka nullified the 20 January verdict of the Federal High Court which sacked Mr Eno.
Mr Barka held that the trial court's decision was based on errors.
The appellate court agreed with Mr Eno's lawyers - Paul Usoro and Uwemedimo Nwoko - that Fadima Aminu, the judge of the Federal High Court, was misled by Mr Enyong in arriving at an unjust conclusion.
Mr Barka said the issue of statutory delegates who voted at the primary election was an internal affair of the PDP.
He added that Ms Aminu ought not to have enquired into the issue of statutory delegates of the party.
Consequently, the appellate court affirmed Mr Eno's claim and set aside all orders made by the Federal High Court judgment in favour of Mr Enyong.
Meanwhile, the court fined Mr Enyong N1 million in favour of Mr Eno.
PREMIUM TIMES had also reported that APC had yet to have a governorship candidate in Akwa Ibom State ahead of the 11 March poll.
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Background
PREMIUM TIMES reported that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had published Mr Enyong's name as Akwa-Ibom PDP governorship standard-bearer.
Mr Enyong is serving out his second term as a member representing Uyo Federal Constituency at the National Assembly.
INEC cited a "court order" as the reason for the substitution of Mr Eno's name with Mr Enyong's.
This newspaper reported that the PDP had its governorship primary in Akwa Ibom last May at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium, Uyo.
Mr Eno, who was a commissioner for Lands and Water Resources in the state, garnered 993 votes to clinch the party ticket.
His closest opponents, Onofiok Luke, and Akan Okon had three votes each in a primary that recorded two void votes from the 1, 018 delegates accredited for the exercise.
But Mr Enyong, who stayed away from the exercise, emerged winner in another PDP primary conducted in his compound in Ewet Housing Estate, Uyo.
He thereafter got the results of his primary validated by the Federal High Court verdict of 20 January, which declared him the legitimate candidate of the PDP.
Mr Enyong was accused by the police of forgery of the election results, but another federal court in Abuja barred the police from arresting him.
