Ex-governorship aspirant sues APC, seeks cancellation of primary

Valentine Ozigbo, an aspirant in the just concluded governorship primary of the APC in Anambra State, says he has sued the party over the outcome of its primary election in the state. 

Mr Ozigbo, who recently defected to the APC from the Labour Party, announced this in a statement on Friday.

The politician participated in the 5 April 2025 governorship election of the APC which was won by a former House of Representatives member,  Nicholas Ukachukwu.

Mr Ukachukwu scored 1,455 votes to win the APC’s governorship ticket, while Mr Ozigbo polled only 67 votes.

Two other aspirants, Edozie Madu and Johnbosco Onunkwo, secured eight and 26 votes, respectively.

On 8 April, Mr Ozigbo petitioned the APC’s Appeals Committee over the conduct of the primary election, describing it as “a fraud and charade.”

The governorship election is scheduled to take place on 8 November 2025.

Court action

Mr Ozigbo in the Friday statement said that he filed the lawsuit on Wednesday to challenge “the legitimacy” of the APC governorship election in Anambra.

“Having exhausted our party’s internal mechanism of writing promptly to the Appeal Committees after both the flawed delegate congress and the primary, I have taken this matter to court; not to chase shadows or titles but to defend the values that matter: justice, fairness and due process,” he said.

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“It is not merely my candidacy at stake but the soul of our party and, by extension, our democracy.”

The politician did not give details of the lawsuit, including the court where it was filed.

My grouse

Mr Ozigbo alleged that the APC’s governorship election was “a well-scripted illusion” given that “contrived delegate list (was) filled with unfamiliar names.”

He claimed that “real” APC members were locked out during the governorship primary and that there was no accreditation of delegates.

“No order; just thugs, violence, and a herd of hired hands masquerading as delegates. A predetermined outcome had been written before the game even began,” he claimed.

The former PDP governorship candidate alleged that the resignation of three aspirants for the APC ticket was because they had observed that there was a predetermined outcome.

“A primary is the party’s prerogative, yes; but the party must comply with its own rules. It must not make a mockery of its own constitution,” he said.

Mr Ozigbo argued that Mr Ukachukwu was not qualified to contest in the APC primary election in the first place.

The politician alleged Mr Ukachukwu “failed to meet the minimum threshold” for eligibility in the primary election.

“And yet, the party machinery was twisted to serve his ambition,” he claimed.