{"id":170897,"date":"2025-07-23T16:38:23","date_gmt":"2025-07-23T15:38:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/court-affirms-ukachukwu-as-apc-candidate-ozigbo-protests"},"modified":"2025-07-23T17:53:41","modified_gmt":"2025-07-23T16:53:41","slug":"court-affirms-ukachukwu-as-apc-candidate-ozigbo-protests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/court-affirms-ukachukwu-as-apc-candidate-ozigbo-protests","title":{"rendered":"Court Affirms Ukachukwu as APC Candidate Ozigbo Protests"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>A Federal High Court sitting in Awka on Wednesday ruled against Mr Valentine Ozigbo, an aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who had challenged the election of Prince Nicholas Ukachukwu as candidate of the party for the November 8 governorship election in Anambra State.<\/p>\n

The court presided over by Justice Evelyn Anyadike held that Ozigbo was unable to prove conclusively that Ukachukwu was not a eligible for the primary election which was held on April 5.<\/p>\n

Ozigbo had petitioned the court to nullify Ukachukwu\u2019s candidacy, arguing that the latter was not legitimately qualified to contest the party\u2019s primary election.<\/p>\n

But in her judgement on Wednesday, Justice Anyadike held that while there were discrepancies worthy of concern in the documentation presented by Ukachukwu, the court lacked the jurisdiction to substitute one candidate for another.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cThe court cannot interfere in the internal matters of a political party where the plaintiff has not provided incontrovertible proof of the date of membership, nor shown that the party acted outside its constitutional powers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ozigbo while reacting to the judgement reiterated his commitment to justice, but stated he would consult with his lawyers on the next steps.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are consulting with our lawyers, we will decide on our next step. I did not fight this case for myself, I fought for Ndi Anambra. I fought to protect the soul of our democracy, and that fight is far from over.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ozigbo\u2019s legal team had argued that Ukachukwu\u2019s membership registration was altered retroactively to beat the eligibility deadline.<\/p>\n

Ozigbo added: \u201cThis was not just about form-filling, it was about principle. It was about saying no to criminality. Unfortunately, the court blinked.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Ukachukwu\u2019s supporters rejoiced over the judgment.<\/p>\n

Ukachukwu had recently concluded a tour to all the 21 local government areas of the state, to thank delegates for electing him as the candidate.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Nigeria<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Nigeria. A Federal High Court sitting in Awka on Wednesday ruled against Mr Valentine Ozigbo, an aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who had challenged the election of Prince Nicholas Ukachukwu as candidate of the party for the November 8 governorship election in Anambra State. The court presided over by Justice Evelyn […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":170896,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,16],"tags":[18133,254,4635,15493],"class_list":["post-170897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-parties","tag-apc-candidate","tag-nigeria","tag-ozigbo","tag-ukachukwu"],"yoast_head":"\nCourt Affirms Ukachukwu as APC Candidate Ozigbo Protests - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A Federal High Court sitting in Awka on Wednesday ruled against Mr Valentine Ozigbo, an aspirant of the All Progressives ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/court-affirms-ukachukwu-as-apc-candidate-ozigbo-protests\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Court Affirms Ukachukwu as APC Candidate Ozigbo Protests\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A Federal High Court sitting in Awka on Wednesday ruled against Mr Valentine Ozigbo, an aspirant of the All Progressives ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/court-affirms-ukachukwu-as-apc-candidate-ozigbo-protests\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-07-23T15:38:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-23T16:53:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/07\/sm_1753277136.019595.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"432\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/court-affirms-ukachukwu-as-apc-candidate-ozigbo-protests#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/court-affirms-ukachukwu-as-apc-candidate-ozigbo-protests\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Court Affirms Ukachukwu as APC Candidate Ozigbo Protests\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-07-23T15:38:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-23T16:53:41+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/court-affirms-ukachukwu-as-apc-candidate-ozigbo-protests\"},\"wordCount\":330,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/court-affirms-ukachukwu-as-apc-candidate-ozigbo-protests#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/07\/sm_1753277136.019595.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"APC candidate\",\"Nigeria\",\"Ozigbo\",\"Ukachukwu\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Parties\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/court-affirms-ukachukwu-as-apc-candidate-ozigbo-protests#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/court-affirms-ukachukwu-as-apc-candidate-ozigbo-protests\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/court-affirms-ukachukwu-as-apc-candidate-ozigbo-protests\",\"name\":\"Court Affirms Ukachukwu as APC Candidate Ozigbo Protests - 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