A Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday nullified the nomination of Senator Sunday Karimi as the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for Kogi West Senatorial District in the 2027 elections. It ordered the party to submit the name of his challenger, Samuel Bamidele Aro, to the electoral commission instead.
Justice Salim Ibrahim also issued a perpetual injunction barring Karimi from presenting himself as the party’s flagbearer for the district.
The judge held that the primary Karimi claimed to have won was invalid because the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) did not monitor it. He cited Sections 82(2)(b) and 84(1) of the Electoral Act, 2022, which he said make INEC’s monitoring of party primaries mandatory. A nomination exercise held without the commission’s presence is “null, void, and of no legal effect,” he said.
The court found that the primary won by Aro was conducted by the APC National Working Committee’s election committee and monitored by INEC. It said INEC had no record or returns of the parallel exercise that produced Karimi.
Justice Ibrahim pointed to INEC’s refusal to give Karimi a Certified True Copy of the results after he applied by letter dated June 15, 2026. The letter was tendered as Exhibit 7b by Karimi’s own lawyers.
“No wonder” INEC did not issue the document, the judge said.
He found that Aro “successfully established his case through credible evidence” and was entitled to all the reliefs he sought. The judge directed the APC to transmit Aro’s name to INEC immediately as its candidate, and ordered the commission to recognise and publish it.
Aro had asked the court to declare him the winner of the APC primary held on May 18 and to set aside the party’s submission of Karimi’s name to INEC. The suit named the APC, Karimi and INEC as the first, second and third defendants. It was filed at the Lokoja Judicial Division and moved to Abuja on grounds of insecurity.
Defence lawyers challenged the court’s jurisdiction and asked it to dismiss the suit as statute-barred. John Olusola Baiyeshea, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), representing Karimi, said the primary took place on May 18 and Karimi’s particulars reached INEC on June 29. He said Aro filed in late July, outside the 14-day limit for pre-election matters under Section 285(9) of the 1999 Constitution.
Dayo Akinlaja, SAN, appeared for INEC, and A. G. Ivom for the APC. Both joined the jurisdictional challenge.
Aro’s lawyer, Johnson Usman, SAN, urged the court to reject the objections. He said documents, including certified election returns released by INEC, proved Aro won a legitimate primary, and asked the court to uphold the delegates’ will.
