Anambra 2021: Court rulings pile pressure on INEC ahead Nov. 6 governorship election
[From CHINEDU NWAFOR, Abakaliki]
A barrage of court rulings have continued to pile more pressure on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over which candidate to recognize ahead of the governorship poll in Anambra State come November 6.
While separate court rulings, Monday, ordered the recognition of two candidates on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), other court decisions have mandated the electoral body to adopt two aspirants of the ruling All Progressives rand Alliance (APGA) also in the Anambra governorship election.
High Court sitting in Awka, Anambra State, Monday ordered Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to publish the name of Senator Ugochukwu Uba as the rightful Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate for the November 6th Anambra governorship election.
Justice Obiorah Nwabunike who presided over the sitting, also awarded N10 million cost against the PDP.
The INEC had last week published the names of candidates of political parties participating in the forthcoming election, with the candidate of the PDP missing, following the crisis engulfing the party that has snowballed into several court cases.
Following the INEC decision, Senator Ugochukwu Uba had gone to court asking it to direct the Commission to publish his name as the rightful candidate for the PDP.
Uba asked the court to determine which PDP governorship primary was authentic, between the one held on June 26, 2021 at Paul University Awka that produced him and the one HD by a faction at Dora Akunyili Women Development Centre, that produced Valentine Ozigbo.
Uba also prayed the court to declare that the primary election held by a faction of the PDP at Dora Akunyili Women Development Centre which produced Ozigbo was illegal; and that the court should order INEC to publish his name as the PDP governorship candidate and compel the commission to recognise him as validly elected candidate of the party for the forthcoming election.
Justice Nwabunike held that the faction that conducted its primary election at Dora Akunyili Women Development Centre did not obey court order.
The Court said the faction rather than forward names of delegates to INEC for primary election, used super Delegates contrary to the judgment of Federal High Court.
The court also emphasized the need for obedience to court order until it is upturned or a stay is obtained.
“With the evidence before me and having heard from parties involved in the matter, I rule that Ugochukwu Uba is the duly elected candidate of PDP.
“It’s not for nothing that court judges are called my lords. When a court makes a pronouncement, it must be obeyed no matter how foolish or ugly, it must be obeyed.
“So, it was wrong for the PDP to go ahead to conduct the primary election at the Dora Akunyili Women’s Development Centre that produced Valentine Ozigbo, with what they called super delegates against a live judgement of a court without overturning the judgment.
“That action cannot be vitiated or mitigated by the argument adduced by defence counsel that party primaries are internal affairs of political parties.
“And I order that Ugochukwu Uba’s name should be enlisted by the INEC without further delay and the defendants should pay a cost of 10 million naira to the applicant,” Justice Nwabunike said.
However, another Federal High Court sitting in Awka also, Monday, ordered INEC to publish the name of Mr Valentine Ozigbo as candidate of the PDP for the November 6 Anambra state governorship election.
Ozigbo secured 62 votes to emerge as the standard-bearer of the party in the primary election which was held on Saturday, June 26, at the Dora Akunyili Women Development Centre, in Awka, the state capital.
It would be recalled that a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory in Abuja has restrained INEC from publishing the name of any aspirant as the party’s standard-bearer in the November 16 governorship poll in Anambra State.
Justice Y. Halilu of Federal Capital Territory High Court, Abuja on Thursday ordered parties in an exparte application No: CV/1539/21 and Motion No: M/4547/2021, filed by Ikenna Chris Ukpai representing Valentine Ozigbo, to maintain status quo by not publishing the name of any candidate as the governorship candidate of PDP for November 16, Anambra State election, pending the hearing and determination of Motion on Notice.
The court granted an application for an accelerated hearing to the pending case.
It also granted an abridged time within which the respondents may file and serve their counter affidavit, written addresses and preliminary objective to five days, from the date of service of originating processes including the ex parte order.
Consequently, INEC excluded the candidate of the PDP from the list of cleared candidates for the poll.
However, in a fresh order issued on Monday, Hyeladzira Nganjiwa, the judge in Awka, asked INEC to publish Ozigbo’s name as PDP’s candidate, following the withdrawal of the suit earlier filed at the FCT High Court in Maitama.
However, a Federal High Court in Awka, Monday morning, ordered INEC to publish the name of Ozigbo as the Candidate of the PDP for the November 6 Anambra State Governorship Election.
For Professor Chukwuma Soludo, the candidate of the presumed officially recognized faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Justice Charles Okaa of the Awka High Court 2 has ordered INEC to recognize the former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor for the November 6 governor ship election.
The presiding judge of Awka Hight Court 2, Justice Charles Okaa, Monday reinstated Soludo as the authentic candidate of the APGA for the poll.
INEC had in the list of the names of candidates and their political parties for the November 6 Anambra Governorship election last week, excluded Soludo, but however, included the name of the governorship candidate of the Okeke-led APGA, Umeh Orji, and his running mate, in response to a court order.
The Court also ordered INEC to remove the name of Hon Chukwuma Umeoji already published and ordered him to stop parading himself as candidate of APGA.
The court further reaffirmed Victor Oye as the indisputable National chairman of APGA and ordered Edozie Njoku and Jude Okeke to stop parading themselves as National chairmen of APGA.