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Cry for justice: Abia Assembly member-elect appeals to Tinubu to prevail on Otti, Speaker to swear him in
*After 5 momths in the lurch
From Boniface Okoro, Umuahia
Battle-weary Abia State House of Assembly member-elect, Hon. Emmanuel Uzodike Aaron, has passionately appealed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to prevail on the state Governor, Dr Alex Otti, and the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Emmanuel Emereuwa, to inaugurate him as a member of the state legislature.
Aaron’s appeal, which he equally tendered to Governor Otti and Mr. Speaker, Emereuwa, is coming five months after the Abia House of Assembly Speaker has refused to swear him in as the member representing Aba North State Constituency, allegedly because of “orders from above,” in flagrant disobedience to the November 27, 2023 Appeal Court ruling in his (Aaron) favour.
Aaron was the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate for Aba North State Constituency in the March 18, 2023 House of Assembly election, in which his rival, Hon. Destiny Nwagwu, of the Labour Party, was returned elected.
Dissatisfied with the poll outcome, Aaron approached the Election Petition Tribunal without success and he proceeded to the final arbitter, the Court of Appeal.
In its ruling, the Court held that Aaron was the rightful winner of Aba North State Constituency seat. But till date, he has yet to be inaugurated as a member of Abia State House of Assembly.
His efforts to get his swearing in done have been encumbered by omnious circumstances.
Briefing newsmen on his ordeal, the traumatized potential member of the 8th Abia State House of Assembly, said he is pained by the fact that no one at the material time was representing his constituency.
“Recall that on the 27th day of November, 2023, the Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos, delivered a judgement in my favour and made orders. One of the orders is that the Certificate of Return (CoR) of the former member who was initially declared by INEC be withdrawn, as well as issuing of a fresh Certificate of Return to me as the rightful elected member to represent Aba North State Constituency in the Abia State House of Assembly,” he said.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), he said, complied with the order of the court and issued him with a Certificate of Return on December 13, 2023.
Armed with documents issued to him on the orders of the Court of Appeal, Aaron landed at the House of Assembly complex in Ogurube Layout in Umuahia, with high hopes that he would be inaugurated. But that was not to be.
“On December 14, 2023, I submitted to the leadership of the House of Assembly, all my documents, including the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the Certificate of Return, letter from INEC informing the Clerk that I have been issued with a Certificate of Return, and that that of Destiny Nwagwu of Labour Party (LP) has been rendered invalid.
“I did that with the expectation that the Speaker will do the needful immediately, by inauguratimg me, as is being done in the other states and the National Assembly. Unfortunately, the Speaker did not do that, till today.”
He went further to explain the circumstances that have impeded his inauguration.
“Before now, initially, after much pressure to do it, he scheduled the inauguration on January 18, 2024, that was the day the House reconvened from its 2023 Christmas break.
“But, unfortunately, the Speaker, on that day, sent a message to me, that the inauguration will not hold again.
“When I visited him in his office and requested for the reason for that, he said he has ‘an order from above,’ not to inaugurate me.”
That “order from above” has remained the greatest impediment to swearing in Aaron, as unfolding events have revealed.
Aaron who also represented the same Constituency in the 7th Abia State House of Assembly (from 2019 – 2023), made it clear that from the day of the Court of Appeal ruling to the day he presented himself for the failed inauguration, there was no other court order or any pending suit against his swearing in. The legal hurdle, however, came afterwards.
“It is important to note,” he said, that from the 27th day of November, 2023, when the judgement was given, to the 18th day of January, when he (Mr Speaker) initially scheduled the inauguration, there was no any court order or filing of any suit in any court against my inauguration; there was no review of judgement from the Appeal Court. There was nothing stopping the Speaker, legally, to do the inauguration.
“But unfortunately, on the 19th day of January, 2024, Destiny Nwagwu filed a suit in a High Court of Abia State at Obehie, Ukwa West local government area.
“He joined me, joined the Attorney-General of the state, joined Abia State House of Assembly and Mr. Speaker.
“He was not challenging my victory, he affirmed in that suit that he is no more a member of the Abia State House of Asssembly but that he is personally investigating my certificate and that they should not recognise me. That is the only legal challenge that supposedly was delaying my inauguration.
“Surprisingly, the Speaker, through his Chief Press Secretary, informed us that he cannot go on to inaugurate me because of the suit filed by Destiny Nwagwu.”
With the pending suit, Aaron’s trouble doubled as the matter was kind of used as another delay tactic as the first hearing of the suit was fixed for about two months away.
Aaron continues: “Where it pains me most is that the first hearing of the suit was fixed for March 5, 2024. They instituted the matter on January 19, 2024, and fixed the first hearing notice on March 5, 2024. Look at the length of time. It was at that time that I noticed something is wrong.”
But mother luck smiled on him as the suit was swiftly dismissed after the first hearing notice as Nwagwu was deemed to have abandoned the suit.
“To God be the glory, this matter has been dismissed. The matter was dismissed on the 19th day of March, 2024, after four times adjournment which they did not appear to defend their suit,” Aaron narrated.
“So, as at today, there is nothing pending in any court in this Abia State, in this country Nigeria, even in West Africa, even in Africa as a whole; even in the whole world, stopping Mr. Speaker, from inauguratimg me. I have also written to him, requesting formally for the inauguration.”
No sooner had the suit had been consigned to the dustbin than the rumour mill churned out the “news” that Aaron was down with a mysterious ailment that has rendered him an invalid, unfit to function as a lawmaker.
But he quickly got around the damaging rumour by physically showing up at the Assembly Complex.
“On the 16th day of April, 2024, I presented myself to the House, showing that I am healthy and hearty, ready to do my work, but Mr Speaker could not do the needful,” he lamented and appealed to Mr. Speaker to end the five-momth long drama by inaugurating him.
“I want to use this medium to appeal to Mr. Speaker to do the needful, to obey the judgement of the Appeal Court.
“I also want to appeal to His Excellency, Dr. Alex Chioma Otti, the Executive Governor of Abia State, to direct Mr. Speaker to inaugurate me without further delay,” an embattled Aaron signed off.
Responding to questions on other alleged subterfuges that could be deployed to continue postponing his swearing in, Aaron said that those procured as traditional rulers from his constituency asking that the Aba North State Constituency seat be declared vacant were fake, impostors.
He was categorical that the so-called traditional rulers were not from his constituency.
“The people recruited for the hatchet job are ignorant. The are not traditional rulers from my constituency and I want to stand here to tell you that our traditional rulers cannot do that, they can’t ask for a vacancy in a constituency where their own son has been declared a winner. Nobody does that,” he stressed.
On the allegations that he was being given the condition to accept to cross-carpet from PDP to Labour Party before he would be inaugurated, Aaron flatly denied that such a card was on the table, insisting that no one has approached him with such option which he described as lobbying. He, however, maintained that the legislature was party-blind, but rather focuses more on the welfare of the people.
“Lobbying is one of the processes of democracy. You cannot say you can’t cross, but remember that there is a law, and there is also an Electoral Act, guiding movement of elected persons from one party to the other.
“So, those things have to be considered. But I want to tell you that there are good policies and good works of the Executive Governor of Abia State. You need to applaud him in those areas but he should obey the Court of Appeal judgement and the rule of law.
“In the House of Assembly, the interest of Abians is paramount and not the party. I have been there, I am an experienced legislator.
“In the House of Assembly, what you discuss is the welfare of the people and not party because you are representing every other person and not your party at that level.
“What I am saying is that there has not been any movement of such, no approach of such. I am not saying they may not come, they may come; I am not saying that I will not go or that I will go. But for now, the major thing is the inauguration,” he harped.
Aware of landmines being allegedly laid for him, Aaron said he was being careful of falling into the several “traps” set for him and as a result, has ruled out going to court to seek the enforcement of his inauguration for the fear that his traducers may jump at the opportunity to fertilize their delay tactics.
“There are traps that are set here and there, politically. I will not jump into their trap. They will want me to go to Court, I will not. Because if I go to court, they will also come there and continue to delay it.
Let them tell the world the reason for not inaugurating me,” he said.
“Let me tell you, Col. Austine Akobundu (Rtd.) got judgement same day with me. He was issued with Certificate of Return and has sunce been sworn in as a Senator. Merely seeing my Certificate of Return, the Speaker is bound to inaugurate me. So, what am I going to court for again,” Aaron further queried.
He appealed to those concerned to hasten his inauguration because his constituents have been without a representative since November 27, 2023 Court of Appeal pronouncement.
“Take it that since November 27 till date, nobody is standing in the gap between the government and Aba North State Constituency. That means that our people is not being represented. It is painful, our people are worried,” he quipped.
“I am appeling to the Speaker and the Governor. Why I am adding Governor is the Speaker’s statement that it is an order from above. Since there is no court order, you should know where the order is from.
“But I am calling on the Governor, as the father of the state, as one who pleads the rule of law, to allow the rule of law to take place. That’s why I am calling on the Governor. The Speaker should do the needful. I will respectfully ask the President (Alhaji Bola Tinubu), to Prevail on them to do it,” Aaron said.
