2027 Elections: Federal High Court Nullifies Karimi’s APC Primary Victory

A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has removed Senator Sunday Karimi as the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for the 2027 general election in Kogi West Senatorial District
The court, presided over by Justice Salim Ibrahim, nullified the party’s primary election conducted in May 2026, which Karimi purportedly won.

Justice Ibrahim ruled that the submission of Karimi’s name to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was invalid and ordered the APC to recognise the primary election winner, Bamidele Sam Aro, as its official nominee.

The court also directed Senator Karimi to stop parading himself as the APC candidate for Kogi West Senatorial District in next year’s election.
In his judgment, Justice Ibrahim held that the plaintiff had successfully proved his case with sufficient evidence, thereby establishing grounds for granting the reliefs sought.

From the totality of the evidence presented before the court, the judge said the primary election was won by Bamidele Sam Aro.

He explained that the primary election was conducted by the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) Election Committee and monitored by INEC, but the purported primary allegedly won by Karimi was not monitored by the commission and was, therefore, invalid.
The judge observed that INEC did not have any record of the results of the election Karimi claimed to have won.

He said: “No wonder, the 3rd defendant (INEC) did not give them the certified true copy of same even after being applied for by the 2nd defendant (Karimi) to the 3rd defendant by a letter dated June 15,” citing Karimi’s Exhibit 7b to support his decision.
Justice Ibrahim further declared that the purported primary that produced Karimi was not monitored by INEC as required by the Electoral Act and was, therefore, invalid.

According to him, Sections 84(1) and (12) of the Electoral Act, 2022, make it mandatory for INEC to monitor the primaries of registered political parties, adding that any party primary not monitored by the commission would ordinarily be regarded as invalid.

“The law is settled that for a party primary to be valid, the INEC/2nd Cross/Respondent has to mandatorily observe, and monitor the nomination of the party’s candidate in line with the requirement of Sections 82 (2) (b) and 84 (1) of the Electoral Act, 2022,” he said.

The judge, who granted all the reliefs sought by Aro in his suit, maintained that the aspirant who secures the highest number of votes at the end of a party primary should be declared the winner and issued INEC Form EC9 for submission to the commission as the party’s candidate.

Justice Ibrahim consequently ordered the APC to immediately forward Aro’s name to INEC as its candidate for the 2027 Kogi West Senatorial election.
He also directed INEC to publish Aro’s name as the lawful APC candidate for the senatorial district.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the suit, which listed the APC, Karimi and INEC as the first to third defendants, was initially filed at the Federal High Court in Lokoja but was later transferred to the Abuja division over security concerns.

Aro, the plaintiff, had asked the court to declare him the winner of the APC primary election conducted on May 18.
He also sought an order setting aside the party’s subsequent submission of Karimi’s name to INEC as its candidate for next year’s senatorial election in Kogi West.

In their arguments, John Olusola Baiyeshea, SAN, who represented Karimi; Dayo Akinlaja, SAN, who represented INEC; and A. G. Ivom, who represented the APC, challenged the competence of the suit and urged the court to dismiss it on the grounds that it was statute-barred.

Baiyeshea argued that although the primary election was conducted on May 18 and Karimi’s name was submitted to INEC on June 29, the plaintiff did not file his suit until late July, beyond the 14 days allowed under Section 285(9) of the Constitution for filing pre-election cases.

However, the plaintiff’s counsel, Johnson Usman, SAN, faulted the arguments of the defendants’ lawyers.

He maintained that there was sufficient evidence, including the results obtained by his client from INEC, to establish that Bamidele Sam Aro won the election.
He consequently urged the court to declare his client the winner and direct INEC to publish Bamidele’s name as the APC candidate for Kogi West Senatorial District.