Edo Appeal Court Moves Reserved Judgment on Delta Guber Poll to Abuja

• Court disqualifies PDP, Ekwunife from Anambra central rerun election


• I’m very much in the contest, says ex-senator

By Christopher Isiguzo in Enugu and Adibe Emenyonu in Benin Cityâ

The Court of Appeal in Benin City, Edo State, has moved the reserved judgment of the Delta State governorship election petition to its headquarters in Abuja.

Ifeanyi Okowa

Earlier, the judgment had been scheduled for the Appeal Court in Benin City for Thursday but has now been moved to Abuja for undisclosed reasons.

The Front Desk Officer, Appeal Court in Benin City, confirmed the report to journalists yesterday, saying they had been communicated that the judgment would now hold in Abuja on Thursday by 10a.m.

The officer who pleaded anonymity, said: “We were asked to communicate to the affected parties that the judgment would now hold in Abuja.”

Attempt to get the reasons behind the movement from the Deputy Chief Registrar, Mrs. Ijeoma Nwobia, proved abortive.  She said she was busy and had no time to attend to journalists.

The court had last week  Thursday reserved judgment on the appeal brought before it by the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Olorogun O’ tega Emerhor; and the Labour Party (LP) candidate, Chief Great Ogboru

The Delta State governorship election petition tribunal had in October declared Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) winner of the April gubernatorial poll.

The tribunal, which ruled in favour of Okowa and Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), dismissed the petition filed by Emerhor and Ogboru.

Both had approached the election petition tribunal to nullify the April 11 poll on the grounds of non-compliance with the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended).

This came as the Enugu Division of the Court of Appeal yesterday disqualified Senator Uche Ekwunife and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from taking part in the yet-to-be scheduled rerun election for Anambra Central senatorial zone over the party’s inability to conduct a valid primary ahead of the March 28 National Assembly election.

The three-man appellate panel presided over by Justice A. D. Yahaya had on December 7, 2015, in an abridged version of its judgment in the appeal filed by the candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Chief Victor Umeh, in which he challenged the declaration of Ekwunife as the winner of the March 28 National Assembly election for Anambra Central senatorial zone ordered INEC to conduct fresh election in the zone within 90 days.

The presiding judge who promised to make the detailed copy of the judgment available at a later date simply nullified the election without providing the reasons for its nullification.

However, a certified true copy of the judgment obtained from the court yesterday showed that of all the grounds of appeal filed by Umeh, the court simply nullified the election on the basis of the PDP’s failure to conduct a valid primaries for its aspirants, insisting that having failed to do so, the party had lost the right to take part in the coming rerun election.

However, 14 other candidates including Umeh, as well as the now Minister of Labour and Productivity, Senator Chris Ngige, are expected to take part in the process.

Part of the judgment read inter alia: “So even if there was a valid ward congress which produced the three ad hoc delegates, where is the state chairman and the state executive committee  to sit together as state special congress to conduct the primary?  After all, it is not the three ad hoc delegates alone that conduct the primary.

“So whether it was the ‘national body of PDP in Anambra State’, the ‘five-man National Assembly Electoral Committee’  or the caretaker committee that conducted the primary which produced the 11th respondent (Ekwunife) as the nominated candidate of the PDP to contest the election,  it is immaterial;  since by paragraph 25 (1) of exhibit R1, it is the state special congress that should conduct the primary for the purpose of nominating a candidate to contest election into the National Assembly.

“The 11th respondent was therefore not the product of a valid primary and was therefore not duly and legitimately nominated. That has disqualified her from contesting the election into the Anambra Central senatorial district.”

Reacting to the latest development,  Umeh said he was ready to contest the rerun election against the other 13 candidates of other parties, noting that though he would have been excited to go into a fresh contest against the PDP and its candidate with the hope of trouncing them at the poll,  the appellate court had saved Ekwunife the trouble of going into an election which she would ultimately lose.

He also advised the PDP not to disturb public peace by going ahead with its plans to conduct a fresh primary for aspirants preparatory for the rerun election, noting that nomination, withdrawal and substitution of candidates had ended since December last year. He said the only avenue open for parties to substitute at this moment is in the case of death of a candidate for the election.

“I challenged the election of Ekwunife because of the need to stop election banditry and impunity in the system. PDP’s penchant for factionalisation and going into elections with multiple candidates had become worrisome. PDP must be compelled to put its house in order. You can’t believe that PDP fielded five candidates against me in that election. I am happy that that has come to an end with this landmark judgment.

“The court has boldly stamped its authority that a political party must comply with party constitution and guidelines. By this judgment,  it is now clear that party primary is not an internal affair of a party,” he said.

He also ruled out the possibility of Senator Ngige taking part in the election, noting that the minister had since told him that he would not be part of the process.

“Ngige has made his choice early enough not to continue with the election. I can’t see him coming to gamble with this election,” Umeh said, noting however that if the APC candidate decides to take part,  he should immediately resign his position and take a plunge into the unknown.

On her part, Ekwunife noted further that because of the absence of a valid party leadership in Anambra State at the time of the primaries last December and following the court observation that she was a product of an invalid exercise, the PDP in the state had fixed January 9 for fresh primaries, observing that she was already prepared for the exercise.

“I wonder why some people will start going through the entire body of the judgment and ignore the main issue which is the enrolment order that fresh election be conducted for all the candidates. It smacks of somebody who is jittery and not ready to face the popular judgment of the people. I will soon begin my campaign and Umeh is busy looking for what to blackmail me with.

Ekwunife maintained that she beat Umeh in the last election and as such, would always beat him in any contest under platform of any political party because of her antecedents and popularity.

“I won’t join issues with Umeh whom obviously is still licking his wounds after I beat him silly in the last election. What concerns me at this moment is how to go into the election and win again so as to continue to represent my people at the Senate and not to join issues with him or his paymasters,” she said.

“My victory at the last election was an act of God and as such, I am not seeing anything as an obstacle to my re-election as my people have absolute confidence in me and that is why they voted me in at the first polls. Umeh is obviously very jittery about the re-run election because he knows he is not electable and as such will be beaten again.

“She called on her supporters and people of Anambra Central senatorial zone to disregard the speculations and allegations being made by her opponent and promised to continue to strive to guard the votes of the people in March next year re-election in the zone.”

Edo Appeal Court Moves Reserved Judgment on Delta Guber Poll to Abuja