The Supreme Court of Nigeria in Abuja has directed the Independent National electoral commission, INEC, to input the name of Emmanuel Nnabuike Nwite as the authentic House of Representatives candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, for Ezza North/ Ishielu Federal Constituency in Ebonyi State.
Nwite, a lawyer, participated in the primary election of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, held on 4th June 2022, while his opponent, Obinna Nwachukwu participated in that of 28th May 2022.
DAILY POST reports that Nwite challenged in court the primaries held on 28th May wherein Obinna Nwachukwu was purportedly declared winner, arguing that the electoral officers that conducted the election fell short of a quorum, thereby leading to tits cancellation.
Subsequently, Obinna Nwachukwu, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP and INEC were defendants in the suit.
Supreme Court judge, Justice Lawal Muhammed Garba, in suit No. SC/CV/1353/2022, setting aside the judgements of the Federal High Court in Abakaliki and the Appeal Court wherein Obinna Nwachukwu won, declared Barr Emmanuel Nwite as the authentic candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, for Ezza North Ishielu Federal Constituency in the 2023 general election.
The counsel to the plaintiff, Barr. Friday Ogazi, who spoke to newsmen said: “The Court has given a beautiful judgement, a correct and truthful one in favour of Barr. Emmanuel Nnabuike Nwite and declared him as the authentic candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP for Ezza North/ Ishielu Federal Constituency for the House of Representatives in the 2023 general election.
Speaking further, he said: “Some people purportedly conducted the PDP primary election for the House of Representatives on 28th May 2022 and the party actually cancelled it and communicated to INEC of the cancellation. They rescheduled a fresh primary election for the 4th of June 2022. That 4th of June election was duly held, and Barr Emmanuel Nwite was declared the winner.
“But, all of the sudden, they started turning things upside down, the party submitted the name of another person, one Obinna Nwachukwu. The reason they gave was that the Federal High Court sitting in Abakaliki nullified the primary election that was held on 5th June 2022, which did not affect the House of Representatives election held on 4th June 2022.
“They kept on saying that every other primary held on 4th and 5th was cancelled, which is not true. The Primary election of 4th has no problem, it was that of the governorship primary election held on 5th, June 2022, which Senator Obinna Ogba won that was struck down.”
He further said: “The Federal High Court here, relied wrongly on the so-called suit No. 88 and the Court of Appeals also relied wrongly on that, and also wrongly on the Anyichuks judgement at the Supreme Court. If you look at that Anyichuks judgement at the Supreme Court, that judgement did not decide anything concerning the House of Representatives, Senate or House of Assembly primary elections. It decided only on the governorship.
“So, when we approached the Supreme Court, the court agreed with us that our position is the correct one. Nobody challenged the cancellation of the 28th May primary elections, they all accepted it because they all know that the primaries held on 28th May 2022 were not good ones.”
He stressed that with the Supreme Court judgement in favour of his client, INEC has been directed to ensure that only the name of Barr. Emmanuel Nnabuike Nwite is placed on the ballot as the candidate of PDP for the Ezza North/Ishielu Federal Constituency in the 2023 general election.
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