Festus Okoye, INEC National Commissioner
Anambra 2021: Politicians engaging in ‘forum shopping’ for favourable court rulings
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)’s National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Barrister Festus Okoye, says politicians and their political parties are now engaged in what he called ‘forum shopping,’ ahead of the Anambra State Governorship election slated for November 6, this year.
Speaking on Channels TV, Friday, Okoye said politicians in the state are now approaching various courts in the country seeking for favourable judgements ahead of the governorship poll in Anambra State.
Reacting to the plethora of court suits which had hamstringed his Commission from effectively listing candidates of political parties for the elections in the state, Okoye expressed fears over the situation as, according to him, ‘it is going to have far-reaching consequences on our electoral process.’
“What is going on is what in legal parlance, we call ‘forum shopping’; people who are looking for a place where they can get a favourable decision.
“For a party primary that took place in Anambra, for instance, some people will go to Bauchi state, some people will go to Jigawa state, some people will go to Imo state and to other places to go and look for a place where they can get a favourable decision.
“It is important for the judiciary to intervene in what is going on. If this spate of multiple and conflicting court orders is carried forward to the 2023 general election, it is going to have far-reaching consequences on our electoral process.”
Okoye also responded to the recent revised list published by INEC on Thursday, for the Anambra State governorship election which again excluded the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Valentine Ozigbo, but included the still contended candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Prof. Chukwuma Soludo of the Chief Victor Oye faction of the party.
Okoye explained that the name of the governorship candidate of the PDP uploaded to the commission’s portal is different from the name affirmed by the court, which he added necessitated the omission that was also informed by the fact that an appeal court had already ruled that the commission should not publish the name of any PDP candidate until the determination of the suit.
Various High Courts had ruled in favour of both candidates seeking to represent the PDP at the governorship election as each of them also belongs to different factions.
On July 19, an Awka High Court ordered INEC to recognise Ugochukwu Uba as the party’s candidate, against Valentine Ozigbo, the preferred candidate of the PDP’s National Working Committee.
“In relation to the PDP, what happened was that the PDP as a political party uploaded the name and personal particulars of a particular candidate to our nomination portal, and that was the candidate whose name the commission published.
“Thereafter, there was also another court judgement ordering and directing the PDP as a political party to submit the name of a different candidate as the candidate of the party.
“The PDP didn’t submit the name of that particular individual, and we can’t publish the name, unless the PDP submits the name of that individual.
“Thereafter, the matter went to the court of appeal and the court of appeal granted accelerated hearing in relation to the matter involving the PDP and its candidate, and then also ask the INEC not to publish the name of any of the candidates pending the final determination of the matter before the court of appeal,” Okoye said.
For APGA, despite an Owerri High Court ruling, which dismissed an application by the Oye faction for stay of execution on the candidate of the Jude Okeke faction, Chukwuma Umeoji, the electoral umpire recognized an appeal court ruling in Kano which recognized the authenticity of the Victor Oye faction that had produced Soludo in a party primary in June this year.
While Okeke faction of APGA has already decalred intention to approach the Supreme Court for resolution of the impasse, the PDP is believed to be exploring an internal crisis resolution mechanism to get the Uba faction to agree to a truce which would pave the way for the recognition of Ozigbo as party candidate.
