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From Godwin Tsa, Abuja
The Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal has declared Valentine Ozigbo as the duly elected candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the forthcoming November 6 governorship election in Anambra State.
The three-member panel headed by the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem in a unanimous decision, set aside the decision of Justice Oniora Nwabunike of a High Court of Anambra State which had earlier declared Senator Ugochukwu Uba as PDP’s candidate.
Justice Dongban-Mensem, who delivered the lead judgment, held that the primary election held at the Professor Dora Akunyuli Women Centre, Awka, which produced Ozigbo as PDP candidate, was conducted in line with the law and the PDP guidelines.
While declaring as an aberration the parallel primary held at Saint Paul University, it berated Justice Nwabunike for strangely sitting as an appellate court over the judgment of Justice Adeniyi of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court, which is a court of coordinate jurisdiction.
Justice Dongban-Mensem, while urging INEC not to allow itself to be distracted in preparation for the election, advised the commission to wait for the decision of the final court in the land and not hurriedly rush to comply with the judgment of trial court.
The panel took turn to take swipes on lawyers who enable litigants to abuse the court’s processes, stressing that relevant bodies like the NJC and NBA must take decisive actions against culprits.
In his judgment, Justice Nwabunike had barred Valentine Ozigbo, from parading himself as the party’s candidate.
The order which was predicated upon a suit marked A/230/2021, Senator Uba Vs INEC & 2 ors at the instance of counsel to Uba, Emeka Nwankwo, also prohibited the PDP from presenting Ozigbo as its candidate.
The court also restrained INEC from accepting Ozigbo as candidate of the PDP until the final determination of the suit brought by Uba to nullify the parallel congress held at the Dora Akunyili Women Development Centre, Awka at which Ozigbo emerged winner with 62 votes.
Uba claimed that the congress at which Ozigbo emerged was convened in disobedience to the judgment of an Abuja High Court, in violation of Section 87 of the Electoral Act, sections 25 and 50 of the PDP Constitution and directive of INEC dated 22nd June 2021 which mandated PDP to comply with the Abuja High Court order issued by the Honourable Justice A.O. Adeniyi.
Uba further claimed that the primary election conducted in the Anambra State congress held at Saint Paul University, Awka at which he (Uba) emerged winner and PDP governorship candidate with 275 votes was the proper party primary election in full obedience to the judgment of an Abuja High Court, compliance with Section 87 of the Electoral Act, sections 25 and 50 of the PDP Constitution.
However, having set aside the said judgment, the Court of Appeal awarded the cost of N10million in favour of the appellant against the respondent.
Meanwhile, the appellate court has advised INEC not to be quick to undermine the emergence of a candidate elected by a political party.
“It is the responsibility of the legal department of the 3rd respondent (INEC) to advice on the correct legal position and not to allow the commission to be distracted by carrying out the wishes of politicians
“INEC ought to respect the decision of court until such decisions are set aside by the court of last resort, as with the case with governorship election cases.”
“Some principles of law should be adopted to sanitise the system to put an endless court cases.
“We set aside the position of Justice Obiorah Nwabunike of Anambra State High Court Awka, delivered on July 19, which had dismissed Ozigbo as winner of the PDP primary.
Justice Dongban-Mensem said the decision of Justice Nwabunike “is strange in law”.
“We hereby affirm that Valentine Ozigbo is the duly elected candidate for the appellant (PDP) for the forthcoming Anambra state Governorship election slated for November 6, 2021.
