Anambra guber: Confusion as courts recognise Ozigbo, Uba as PDP candidate

By Ihesiulo Grace 20 July 2021 29 No comment

Confusion seem to reign supreme in the Anambra State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as a Federal High Court in Awka has ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to publish the name of Valentine Ozigbo as the candidate of the PDP for the November 6 Anambra State governorship election, while an Anambra High Court has also ordered INEC to recognise Sen. Ugochukwu Uba as the PDP governorship candidate for the same poll.

Recall that Ozigbo’s name and that of the All Progressives Grand Alliance APGA, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, was missing from the list of candidates scheduled for the election.

The name of the candidate for the All Progressives Congress (APC) Andy Uba, was contained in the list of cleared candidates released by the commission.

However, Ozigbo had approached a Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in Maitama seeking an order restraining the PDP from “tampering” with his name as the authentic candidate.

He also sought an order “mandating” INEC to publish his name as the party’s candidate.

However, the court refused all the orders sort and ordered the electoral commission not to publish the name of any candidate for the PDP pending the determination of the motion on notice.

Consequently, INEC excluded the candidate of the PDP from the list of cleared candidates for the poll.

But in a fresh order issued on Monday, the judge in Awka, Hyeladzira Nganjiwa, asked the electoral commission to publish Ozigbo’s name as PDP’s candidate, following the withdrawal of the suit at the FCT high court.

Meanwhile, an Anambra High Court ordered the INEC to recognise Sen. Uba as the PDP candidate for the governorship poll in the state.

The presiding Judge, Justice Obiora Nwabunike, gave the order in his judgment on the matter instituted by Uba, against INEC, PDP and Valentine Ozigbo, as defendants. Nwabunike also awarded N10 million damages in favour of the plaintiff as cost of litigation.

Uba had approached the court in Suit No. A/230/2021 to determine if the primary election conducted by the National Executive of PDP at the Dora Akunyili Women’s Development Centre on June 26 was done according to the law.

He also sought the determination of the court on whether an Abuja High Court Order on a suit by one Samuel Anyakorah against PDP, bordering on validity of the process that produced the party’s factional state Chairman, Chief Ndubuisi Nwobu, had been set aside or stayed.

He also prayed the court to determine if the process of the primary, which produced Ozigbo through ‘Super Delegates’ was in line with the provisions of the Electoral Act, which states that primary elections would be done through delegates’ congress.

Nwabunike said that the Court Order, which restrained PDP from conducting the primary election had neither been stayed nor set aside. He said although PDP had its Constitution and national executive, both could not be above the order of Court.

He further said that the party had not successfully vacated the extant orders before conducting the primary.

He said that PDP erred by not clearing every legal huddle before the primary election, hence the process was in defiance of the law.

According to him, an order of court remains subsisting unless and until it is upturned or set aside.

The court, therefore, resolved that the primary, which produced Uba at the Paul University’s complex on June 26 was lawful and in accordance with the Electoral Guidelines.

It also threw out an application by PDP, which was brought against him on the judgment day for lacking in merit.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that INEC on July 16 published the list of candidates for the Nov. 6 election with no candidate for PDP.