Owerri Senatorial Seat: Again, Uche Onyeagucha Loses to Onyewuchi As Court Of Appeal Dismisses His Bid

By Charles Igbo

For the third time, Honourable Uche Onyeagucha has lost his bid for the Senate to the incumbent Senator representing Imo East – Owerri Senatorial District – Ezenwa Onyewuchi. And so did Prince Alex Mbata, popular as PAM.

Senator Onyewuchi was the Candidate for the Labour Party in the February, 25, 2023, National Assembly Election, while Onyeagucha and Mbata were Candidates for the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP and the All Progressives Congress, APC, respectively.

Onyewuchi beat the two of them in that election, and was declared the winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC. But both men approached the National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal, to challenge Onyewuchi’s victory. The election Tribunal dismissed their petition against Onyewuchi and affirmed his victory. Not satisfied, both Onyeagucha and Mbata appealed to the Court of Appeal.

On Friday, November 10, their challenge came to an end when the Court of Appeal,  Lagos Division, dismissed their appeal as without any merit.

Onyewuchi, who is on his second term as a Senator, was in the House of Representatives, and represented Owerri Federal Constituency before he became a Senator in 2019, both under the PDP.

But in 2023, Onyeagucha, a Lawyer, former Member of the House of Representatives and the immediate past Secretary to the Imo State Government under the short-lived Governor Emeka Ihedioha Government, decided to challenge Onyewuchi for the ticket. Onyeagucha’s challenge divided the PDP as not a few Party members   wanted Onyewuchi to go for a second term.

During the Prmary, he defeated Onyewuchi and took the ticket. That forced Onyewuchi to defect to the LP under which he contested and won the Senate seat on February 25th, 2023.

Mbata, a successful business man, was not really known as a politician when he contested for the Owerri District Senatorial seat.