Aguocha floors ex-Abia Speaker as Tribunal upholds Reps member’s victory
From Boniface Okoro, Umuahia
The federal lawmaker representing Ikwuano/Umuahia North/Umuahia South Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives Hon. Obi Aguocha of the Labour Party (LP), once again on Thursday proved his superiority over the immediate-past Speaker of Abia State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Chinedum Orji, in the electoral battle field.
This is because Hon.Aguocha once again floored the ex-Speaker at the National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Umuahia, Abia State capital which upheld Aguocha’s victory at the February 25, 2023 National Election.
The Tribunal’s three-man panel while ruling on the petition brought by Rt. Hon. Chinedum Orji, seeking to nullify Aguocha’s victory in the February 25, 2023 National Assembly election, dismissed the petition by Orji who was the candidate of the people’s Democratic Party (PDP) for lacking in merit.
In a unanimous judgment read by Honorable Justice Abubakar Kutigi, the panel held that that the petition by filed by Rt. Hon. Orji dwelt on internal party affairs, adding that the petitioner failed to prove other allegations, including over voting and dismissed it accordingly.
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Aguocha the winner of the February 25, 2023 National Assembly election after polling a total number of 48,199 votes to defeat Orji, who polled 25,196 votes.
Not satisfied with the outcome of the election, Orji, who is the son of former Governor Theodore Orji, approached the tribunal to seek redress. He prayed the court to nullify Aguocha’s victory, claiming that the federal lawmaker was not dully nominated as the LP candidate for the Ikwuano/Umuahia North/Umuahia South federal constituency contest and therefore was not qualified to stand for the election.
Orji, also told the Court that Aguocha contested the PDP primary election and lost before joining the LP. He equally argued that Aguocha’s name was not in the register of the Labour Party submitted to INEC, while there was no notification to INEC 30 days before the primary election that produced him as the LP flag bearer. He further alleged that there was over voting in some polling units that gave Aguocha advantage over him.
However, in their ruling, the panel held that the membership of a political party was a pre-election matter, adding that the tribunal lacks the jurisdiction to entertain the matter which should have been decided before the election.
The panel also ruled that the petitioner failed to prove that the respondent was not duly nominated by LP, as the issue concerning the candidate of a party in an election is an internal party affairs.
The tribunal equally struck out the allegation of over voting against the respondent by the petitioner for failing to prove it beyond every reasonable doubt.
The tribunal therefore dismissed the petition for lacking in merit, adding that it could not fly.
In a chat with newsmen after the tribunal ruling, Counsel to the petitioner, Mr Obinna Nkume, said his team would review the judgement and decide on the next line of action.
“We will get the records of the judgement, review it and decide our next line of action,” he said.
Also Counsel to the respondent, Mr Friday Nwokeocha, hailed the panel for delivering a sound judgement. Nwokeocha called on the petitioner to accept the judgement in good faith and support Aguocha, whom he described as the petitioner’s brother.
“The petitioner exercised his right by challenging the outcome of the election at the tribunal, he still has the chance of appealing the judgement, but I will advise him to accept the judgement and support Aguocha because we are one, the future is still bright for him,” the respondent’s lawyer said.
