A federal high court in Abuja has nullified the nomination of Sunday Karimi as the All Progressives Congress’ (APC) candidate for the Kogi west senatorial district in the 2027 general election.
The court ordered the APC to replace Karimi’s name with that
of Samuel Aro, whom it recognised as the winner of the party’s primary election
held on May 18, 2026.
Salim Ibrahim, the presiding judge, gave the order on
Wednesday in a judgement in suit No. FHC/LKJ/CS/63/2026.
The judge also directed the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC) to accept, recognise and publish Aro as the APC’s candidate
for Kogi west.
Aro had approached the court after the APC submitted
Karimi’s name to INEC on July 11, 2026, despite his claim to have won the
party’s primary.
Aro argued that the primary which produced him as the winner
was the one recognised by INEC and that the party was legally bound to submit
his name as its candidate.
He also challenged the validity of the exercise that
produced Karimi, arguing that it was not monitored by INEC as required by the
Electoral Act.
In his ruling, the judge held that Aro had established his
case and was entitled to the reliefs sought.
“It is the view of this honourable court that the plaintiff
has proved his case and he is entitled to all the reliefs sought,” he said.
The judge faulted the purported primary that produced
Karimi, holding that the exercise was not monitored by INEC as required by law.
“There is no gainsaying that the purported primary that
produced the 2nd defendant was not monitored by the 3rd defendant as required
by the Electoral Act and therefore, invalid,” he held.
The judge also rejected the results tendered by the APC and
Karimi to establish the latter’s emergence as the party’s candidate.
He noted that the results were not from an election
monitored by INEC and that the commission had no record of them.
Ibrahim further said INEC did not issue Karimi certified
true copies of the results despite his application in a letter dated June 15,
2026.
The judge relied on a court of appeal decision which held
that “any primary of a political party not so monitored would be regarded,
ordinarily, as invalid.”
In his declarations, Ibrahim held that the APC’s submission
of Karimi’s name to INEC on July 11, 2026, “is null, void and of no effect
whatsoever.”
He also declared that Aro, having emerged winner of the
valid primary, “has not withdrawn his candidacy”, adding that the APC was
legally bound to submit his name as its candidate.
The court consequently ordered the APC to “immediately
forward or submit” Aro’s name to INEC and directed the commission to “accept,
recognise and publish” him as the party’s candidate.
The court also restrained Karimi from “parading or further
parading, presenting or further presenting, holding himself out” as the APC’s
candidate for Kogi west.
The judge further barred the APC from presenting Karimi’s
name to INEC or withholding Aro’s name, while the commission was restrained
from recognising or publishing Karimi as the party’s candidate.
The court made no order as to costs, directing the parties
to bear their respective expenses.
Aro instituted the suit through an originating summons filed
at the federal high court in Lokoja, the Kogi state capital, on July 23, 2026.
The chief judge of the court subsequently transferred the
case to the Abuja division on September 9, with proceedings before Ibrahim
commencing on September 15.
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