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Dr. Obiora Okonkwo contested the last PDP primary for Anambra Senatorial seat. He has been in courts seeking to prove that he won the exercise. In this interview, the politician spoke on last week’s Supreme Court ruling that threw out the suit by Senator Uche Ekwunife. Ekwunife had earlier challenged the Appeal Court judgment that nullified her election. He also shared his thoughts on other issues including the APC government, survival of PDP and the next Anambra governorship poll.
Last Friday, the Supreme Court threw out Hon. Uche Ekwunife’s case on account of lack of jurisdiction. What is the implication?
The decision in itself does not entirely take care of the Anambra Central dispute. It only answered to Uche Ekwunife’s appeal to the Supreme Court to review the final judgment of Appeal Court, which we all know is the last court of jurisdiction on any post election matter. It was expected, those who should know, knew that the Supreme Court had no jurisdiction to even look into that matter. It is a constitutional matter. I knew the case would end up that way. It was an outcome that I predicted. If at all it is of any benefit, the benefit comes only personally to me as the authentic candidate of the party. The decision of the Court of Appeal that nullified Ekwunife’s candidacy was like deciding my own pre-election matter. I have a pre-election matter before the court, challenging the authenticity of the candidacy of Uche Ekwunife. After the primaries, I had gone to court to say with all the proofs that, indeed, I am the original candidate of PDP for Anambra Central senatorial district election. To support this claim, we have affidavit for all the members of the panel, the national executive panel that came to Anambra to conduct the primaries. The affidavits were sworn by former chairman, former senators, professors; they are clearly before the court. They are saying that concerning the primaries they conducted in Anambra Central for senate, it was me who won the primaries.
When we heard Uche Ekwunife had applied for joinder, we allowed her to come and defend herself. She came up with a result sheet, which obviously in the new electoral law is the most determinant factor. She came out with the result sheet that purportedly gave her victory. In the same result sheet also, we have been able to prove that even the Returning Officer she claimed had gone to the field to conduct the election, had disclaimed even being nominated to do that job, and that the signature purportedly contained in that result sheet was not his. They were forged.
The panel members also in that affidavit had claimed that they never appointed that individual to do the job and that the only person appointed to do the job was the Returning Officer that returned with my result sheet, which was declared authentic for the victory.
This matter has been there before the election. She has been to the Appeal Court, and the Supreme Court because of the other technicalities that are contained in the judiciary process. They are okay. You have to allow people to explore all legal options open to them. Other issues are interlocutory matters where people will want to use some delay tactics, so we are back to where we were. But we are hopeful that something positive will come out of it. But, basically, having gone through the Appeal Court and other interlocutory issues, we are back to the Federal High Court. The Federal High Court was about to determine this matter before Justice Abang was transferred out of Abuja last year. Now, the matter remains in his court and the new judge taking over has fixed the matter for February 23, 2017. The electoral law and the constitution have made it very clear that it is the party that wins, not the individual. In this case, the court has said Uche did not win the primary election, so the court has actually joined verdict to our own claim. We are only waiting for any other court to authenticate it, that this is ours. We were no
NEWS: NO VACANCY IN ANAMBRA CENTRAL – OKONKWO, PDP CHIEFTAIN
Dr. Obiora Okonkwo contested the last PDP primary for Anambra Senatorial seat. He has been in courts seeking to prove that he won the exercise. In this interview, the politician spoke on last week’s Supreme Court ruling that threw out the suit by Senator Uche Ekwunife. Ekwunife had earlier challenged the Appeal Court judgment that nullified her election. He also shared his thoughts on other issues including the APC government, survival of PDP and the next Anambra governorship poll.
Last Friday, the Supreme Court threw out Hon. Uche Ekwunife’s case on account of lack of jurisdiction. What is the implication?
The decision in itself does not entirely take care of the Anambra Central dispute. It only answered to Uche Ekwunife’s appeal to the Supreme Court to review the final judgment of Appeal Court, which we all know is the last court of jurisdiction on any post election matter. It was expected, those who should know, knew that the Supreme Court had no jurisdiction to even look into that matter. It is a constitutional matter. I knew the case would end up that way. It was an outcome that I predicted. If at all it is of any benefit, the benefit comes only personally to me as the authentic candidate of the party. The decision of the Court of Appeal that nullified Ekwunife’s candidacy was like deciding my own pre-election matter. I have a pre-election matter before the court, challenging the authenticity of the candidacy of Uche Ekwunife. After the primaries, I had gone to court to say with all the proofs that, indeed, I am the original candidate of PDP for Anambra Central senatorial district election. To support this claim, we have affidavit for all the members of the panel, the national executive panel that came to Anambra to conduct the primaries. The affidavits were sworn by former chairman, former senators, professors; they are clearly before the court. They are saying that concerning the primaries they conducted in Anambra Central for senate, it was me who won the primaries.
When we heard Uche Ekwunife had applied for joinder, we allowed her to come and defend herself. She came up with a result sheet, which obviously in the new electoral law is the most determinant factor. She came out with the result sheet that purportedly gave her victory. In the same result sheet also, we have been able to prove that even the Returning Officer she claimed had gone to the field to conduct the election, had disclaimed even being nominated to do that job, and that the signature purportedly contained in that result sheet was not his. They were forged.
The panel members also in that affidavit had claimed that they never appointed that individual to do the job and that the only person appointed to do the job was the Returning Officer that returned with my result sheet, which was declared authentic for the victory.
This matter has been there before the election. She has been to the Appeal Court, and the Supreme Court because of the other technicalities that are contained in the judiciary process. They are okay. You have to allow people to explore all legal options open to them. Other issues are interlocutory matters where people will want to use some delay tactics, so we are back to where we were. But we are hopeful that something positive will come out of it. But, basically, having gone through the Appeal Court and other interlocutory issues, we are back to the Federal High Court. The Federal High Court was about to determine this matter before Justice Abang was transferred out of Abuja last year. Now, the matter remains in his court and the new judge taking over has fixed the matter for February 23, 2017. The electoral law and the constitution have made it very clear that it is the party that wins, not the individual. In this case, the court has said Uche did not win the primary election, so the court has actually joined verdict to our own claim. We are only waiting for any other court to authenticate it, that this is ours. We were no
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