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Alex Enumah in Abuja
The Court of Appeal, Abuja has affirmed the nomination of incumbent House of Representatives member, Chief Thomas Ereyitomi, as candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the forthcoming House of Representatives election, for Warri Federal Constituency Seat in Delta State.
A three-member panel of the appellate court took the decision on Wednesday, shortly after dismissing the appeal brought by Ekpoto Ekpoto Emmanuel, for lacking in merit.
Recall that Justice Mohammed Umar of a Federal High Court in Abuja had on August 6 dismissed Emmanuel’s suit on the grounds that the issues raised were outside the jurisdiction of the court.
Emmanuel in his suit had claimed that Ereyitomi ought not to be on the race for the ticket of the APC for the Warri Federal Constituency Seat, on the grounds of being a member of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC).
The plaintiff who was one of the three other aspirant that contested the APC primary election for the Warri Federal Constituency Seat, therefore prayed the court to void Ereyitomi’s victory, adding that the votes be also transferred to him and he be declared candidate of the party.
But, Justice Umar in his judgment dismissed the case for being non-justiciable, clearly starting that no court has jurisdiction to entertain issue of membership of political party.
Dissatisfied, Emmanuel last month approached the appellate court to reverse the trial court judgment, claiming among others that Justice Umar erred in law when he held that the case brought before him borders on internal matters of a political party.
The appellant further argued that the trial court erred in law when it refused to go into the merit of his allegation of dual membership.
Delivering judgment on Wednesday, the three-member panel led by Justice Danlami Senchi, however dismissed the appeal for lacking in merit.
According to Justice Donatus Okorowo, who read the lead judgment Emmanuel’s case centered on allegations of dual party membership, which no court has the legal ground to entertain.
The appellate court explained that Emmanuel’s suit was not alleging non-compliance or that the process was rigged but that as at the time Ereyitomi contested and won the APC primary, he was a member of the NDC. Hence, its non-justiciability.
Justice Okorowo further held that the trial court was in order not to delve into the issue of dual membership haven held that it lacked jurisdiction.
The appellate court noted that delving into the matter would have amounted to a grave error on the part of the trial court.
Meanwhile, considering the issue of dual membership, the appellate court observed that the appellant failed to provide sufficient evidence to prove the allegations.
Faulting the appellant further, the appellate court stated that Emmanuel failed to counter Ereyitomi’s submission and documents showing he was never a member of the NDC.
While noting that Ereyitomi besides using media publication to clarified that he was never a member of the NDC, called the ward chairman who testified that Ereyitomi’s name was not in their register, held that the failure of the appellant to join the NDC in the suit was fatal to his case.
“NDC was never joined as a party – the party who could have confirm if the 3rd respondent was its member was not joined.
In all, the appellate court dismissed the appeal and affirmed the judgment of Justice Umar which affirmed Honourable Thomas Ereyitomi as the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Warri Federal Constituency House of Representatives election in Delta State.
The appellate court held that Ereyitomi was lawfully nominated on the grounds that evidence showed he was a registered member of the APC when the primary election was conducted, cleared by the APC and won the May 16 primary election.
Emmanuel shortly after Ereyitomi emerged candidate of the APC, approached the court to challenge his nomination and submission of his name to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The APC, INEC and Hon Ereyitomi are 1st, 2nd and 3rd defendants respectively in the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/1079/2026.
Emmanuel had in the suit filed on May 28, prayed the court to nullify the participation and emergence of Hon Ereyitomi as the duly nominated candidate of the APC for the Warri Federal Constituency, House of Representatives election slated for January next year.
The aspirant had predicated his suit on the grounds that Ereyitomi’s nomination by APC as its candidate for the Warri Federal Constituency was unlawful on grounds of membership of two political parties.
The plaintiff alleged that as at May 16, when the APC conducted its primary election that produced the lawmaker as its candidate for the 2027 general elections, Ereyitomi was a member of the APC and the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC).
Among reliefs he sought included an order of the court sacking Ereyitomi as APC’s candidate for the Warri Federal Constituency House of Representatives election in Delta State on grounds of unlawful nomination and another order declaring him as the lawful winner of the primary election having scored second highest votes in the primary poll.
However, the defendants in their respective responses urged the court to dismiss the case of the plaintiff for lacking in merit.
