- Legal Fireworks Mount; Gladiators Pray Apex Court to Stop Fresh Primary by PDP..
- ..Bar Party From Participating in Reps Poll
Three weeks to presidential/National Assembly polls, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is currently in a fix over the ticket of Aboh Mbaise/Ngor Okpala Federal Constituency of Imo State as interested parties have approached the Supreme Court, seeking an order that would compel the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to bar the party from fielding candidate to vie for the federal seat.
The New Diplomat reports that Aboh Mbaise/Ngor Okpala is the federal constituency of Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, the immediate past Governor of Imo state and a former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives. In fact, Ihedioha had been reported to be fighting tooth and nail to ensure his loyalist, Mr Albert Agulanna clinch the now disputed PDP ticket in that constituency.
The suit filed by Dr. Uzoma Ugochukwu, a chieftain of the PDP in Imo and an aspirant who participated in the primary for the position, is also praying the court to stop the PDP from conducting any primary re-run in the constituency following the nullification of an earlier primary by the Appeal Court.
The New Diplomat understands that if the prayers before the Supreme Court are granted, the PDP might not have a candidate to vie for Aboh Mbaise/Ngor Okpala federal constituency seat as other political parties wait in the wings ahead of the February 25 polls.
Trouble had started when the party decided to move the party’s primary for the PDP ticket away from the constituency to Owerri Municipal Council against the dictates of the new Electoral Act which said all party primaries must hold within the district of the constituency. Ihedioha’s man, Agulanna, was declared as the winner of the primary. But it was later voided by the Court of Appeal, Owerri Division.
The Appeal court while nullifying the primary in a suit initiated by Ugochukwu, marked: CA/OW/493/2022 had also ordered that a fresh primary be held in the constituency within the next 14 days of the ruling delivered on 23rd January, 2023
Not satisfied by the ruling and the time frame given by the court for the party to conduct a fresh primary, Ugochukwu and Hon. Bede Eke, the incumbent federal lawmaker representing the constituency in separate suits approached the apex court, asking it to stop PDP from conducting a re-run because it is now status-barred and as well bar the party from participating in the House of Representatives election in Aboh Mbaise/Ngor Okpala federal constituency.
Relying on Section 29 (1) of the Electoral Act, 2022, Ugochukwu’s legal team argued that “it is mandatory for a Political Party to submit to the 2nd Respondent (INEC) not later than 180 days before the date appointed for a general election the names of the candidates who must have emerged from valid primaries conducted by the political party.
“Any primary election conducted within a period of 36 days from the date of the judgment (20th January, 2023) to the 25th day of February, 2023 when the Federal Constituency General Election will be held will not satisfy the requirement of not later than 180 days provided for in Section 29(1) of the Electoral Act, 2022.”
‘Precedence for The S’Court’
In the suit, Ugochukwu also argued that the Appeal Court erred in law when it failed to give an applicable judgement as delivered by the Supreme Court over a similar case as in MATO v. HEMBER (2018) ALL
FWLR (PT 925) 146.
According to court papers sighted by The NewDiplomat, in the case of MATO v. HEMBER (SUPRA), the Federal Constituency Primary Election of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the Vandeikya/Konshisha Federal Constituency of Benue State was held at HAF Haven Hotel, Makurdi outside of the constituency itself, “contrary to the mandatory provisions of Sections 87(4) (c) (ii) and 87(7) of the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended) and Article 14.11 of the 2014 All Progressives Congress Guidelines for Nomination for Public Officer.
“This Supreme Court held that it was mandatory to hold the primary election in Vandeikya/Konshisha Federal Constituency as provided in the Electoral Act, 2010 and the APC Guidelines.
“The Vandeikya/Konshisha Federal Constituency Primary Election held outside that Federal Constituency in Makurdi, Benue State was accordingly held null and void by the Supreme Court.”
The appellant therefore asked the apex court to hold that the facts of the case on appeal for Aboh Mbaise/Ngor Okpala Federal Constituency Primary Election are not distinguishable from the facts of MATO v. HEMBER (2018) ALL FWLR as the primary “was conducted by the PDP at Aladinma Mall, Owerri which is in the Owerri Federal Constituency of Imo State contrary to the mandatory provisions of Section 84(5) (c) (i) of the Electoral Act/ 2022, Section 50(2) (d) of the Peoples Democratic Party Constitution (As Amended in 2017), and Part Il, Article 7(i) of the Peoples Democratic Party Electoral Guidelines For Primary Elections.”
‘The Political Intrigues At Play’
Meanwhile, sources who spoke with The New Diplomat, claimed a purported rerun election for the seat following the Appeal court ruling which gave two weeks for fresh primary in the constituency was a ploy by some power brokers in the Imo state chapter of the PDP to impose their preferred candidate on the constituents.
The source said there had a gentleman’s arrangement that allows the two local government areas that make up the constituency: Aboh Mbaise and Ngor Okpala to rotate the seat. Findings by The New Diplomat revealed that Ihedioha who hails from Aboh Mbaise had occupied the seat between 2003 and 2015, after which incumbent representative for the constituency, Bede Eke has now occupied the seat for eight years, serving two terms.
It’s believed that the ticket should move to Aboh Mbaise in 2023, according to a PDP chieftain who spoke under anonymity. This, he said, was the thinking that informed the PDP’s decision to hold a mock primary in the local government to select a candidate in-waiting.
“In the mock primary, Dr Ugochukwu defeated Agulanna, who is Ihedioha’s man. The guy (Agulanna) who came second was the one Ihedioha and his group were projecting. They were doing everything to make sure that he win.
“When he didn’t win, they had to re-strategize and then pushed him to go and buy a PDP form. At the end of the day, it was three persons that contested the ticket, Ugochukwu, Agulanna and Eke, the incumbent reps member. That was how the gentleman’s agreement was breached, leading to the current chaos the matter has caused for the party,” the PDP source said.
The axe dangling over the PDP in Ihedioha’s constituency comes as the former Imo Governor had been accused of masterminding the sacking of the PDP candidate for Imo West senatorial district, Jones Onyereri, while the National Secretary of the party, Samuel Anyanwu, was said to be behind the sacking of Ihedioha’s man, Agulanna by the court.
According to reports, the political rivalry between Ihedioha and Anyanwu might be part of a larger plot as the duo are said to be interested in the PDP ticket for the November 11 governorship poll in Imo state.
