ENDING THE ENUGU DEBACLE
said “there is no injunction whatsoever restraining the PDP from submitting the name of its validly elected candidate to INEC.”
Going further, the PDP stated that, “There are two cases on the Enugu governorship primary pending before Justice S.E Chukwu of the Federal High Court, Abuja and both cases were heard on Thursday, December 18, 2014.
The first is Eze vs. PDP in which Ugwuanyi was joined following an application by his counsel, P.I.N Ikwueto (SAN). The second is Onyishi vs. PDP.”
“The fact is that Senator Ayogu Eze’s initial application for an ex-parte order to restrain the PDP from submitting Hon. Ugwuanyi’ name to INEC was refused by the Court as he was asked to put the PDP and INEC on Notice”.
The party insisted that “an application for an injunction does not amount to an order of injunction and until such an order of injunction is made, there is nothing in law restraining the PDP from performing the act against which the order is being sought.”
Eze was also said to have reassured supporters that the Court would take the Enugu governorship seat even after the general election, citing Rotimi Amechi v. Omehia case. But many legal practitioners have consistently disagreed, arguing that his case was different from Rotimi Amechi’s.
They say while Amechi won a primary election only for his ticket to be handed to Omehia by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Eze did not participate in the December 8, 2014 PDP primary in the first place.
Finally, Ugwuanyi Floors Eze
Ugwuanyi’s lawyer, Ikwueoto told the Court that Eze’s suit was a gross abuse of the judicial process. He argued that an Enugu High Court, which is of equal jurisdiction with the Federal High Court had on December 9, 2014, restrained Eze from parading or holding himself out as a candidate of the PDP, only for him to approach the Abuja high court with the instant suit on December 12, 2014, despite the pendency of the restraining order which is still subsisting against him.
The defendants, comprising the PDP and PDP’s National Working Committee (NWC) and INEC further challenged the competence of the suit. They urged the Court to strike out the suit for being frivolous and lacking in merit. The PDP insisted that the issue of nomination of candidates was an internal affair of any political party within extant laws and that the courts have no jurisdiction to meddle in it.
The legal fireworks continued until March 2, 2015, when Eze’s hopes of flying the PDP flag were dashed by the Federal High Court, Abuja. The Court dismissed his case in its entirety.
In the judgment read by Justice Chukwu, the Court declared Ugwanyi as the authentic candidate of the PDP in Enugu State, having polled the highest number of votes in the primary election that was approved by the NEC of the party.
Dismissing the suit, Chukwu held that the Electoral Act, as amended, specifically vested in the NEC of the PDP, the powers to conduct primary election for the purpose of nominating candidate for a gubernatorial poll, stressing that in the event of two parallel primaries, the political party, has the exclusive power to decide on who to sponsor for the election.
The court further observed that INEC had through an affidavit it deposed to, confirmed that its officials only monitored the conduct of the primary organised by the NWC of the PDP on December 8, 2014, which Ugwuanyi won.
It said the plaintiff, Eze, failed to adduce any evidence to show that the parallel election that produced him was conducted, sanctioned or authenticated by the PDP through its NEC.
“Even if I agree with the plaintiff that there was parallel primary election on that date, the party still have the power to decide who to sponsor and it has said it is Ugwuanyi. The court, based on facts made available to it by all the parties in this matter, is on the right pedestal to hold that only one primary election was conducted by the NEC of the PDP which nominated Ugwuanyi as its candidate.”
On Eze’s claim that his list was sanctioned by Justice Ademola, Chukwu noted that the High Court did not at any time deliver a judgment authenticating any list of delegates that the PDP must compulsorily utilise for the state’s governorship primaries.
Chukwu noted that the judgment of the Federal High Court presided over by Justice Ademola, which Eze heavily relied upon in arguing his case, did not grant all the reliefs seeking to compel the PDP to use a particular list of delegates for the poll, but merely identified the plaintiffs in that matter as those that emerged from the ward congress that was organised by the PDP on November 1, 2014.
“That judgment is clear and unambiguous; my learned brother only granted prayer one of the plaintiffs in part, while prayers 2, 3, 4 and 5 were rejected. Outside that, no order of injunction limiting the scope as to what list of delegates should be used was made by my brother judge. Therefore, the issue of authentication, confirmation or sanctioning of any list of delegates by the court does not arise and goes to no issue.
“If the court had wanted to make the list sacrosanct, it could have granted reliefs 2, 3, 4 and 5 as prayed by the plaintiffs, but he did not and I can’t now impose it on him. Let me highlight here that the plaintiff in this case (Senator Eze) has variously tried to impute into the said judgment what was not said or held by the court. It is obvious that he read the judgment out of context and attempted to impute meaning outside the judgment.”
The judge said it was surprising that although Senator Eze insisted he was forced to boycott the primary election that produced Ugwuanyi after the chairman of the panel mandated by the PDP NWC to conduct the exercise showed him the doctored list of delegates, he failed to mention the name of the person that conducted the parallel primary election where he was declared winner.
“Was the one he won conducted by PDP or any of its members? Was any of his supporters disenfranchised or refused voting at the primary conducted by King Asala? If the answer is in the affirmative, then, this case would have fallen within the provision of section 87(9) of the Electoral Act. If not, the matter is non-justiceable and falls as a parallel election to which the court has no jurisdiction to adjudicate upon.
“For the plaintiff to succeed, he must show that the PDP NEC sanctioned the outcome of the primary election that produced him. With all sense of responsibility, the plaintiff failed to show that any of the section of the Electoral Act, the party’s constitution and guidelines for the conduct of primary elections, was breached. In the end, the plaintiff’s case fails and it is accordingly dismissed,” he concluded.
The Court had earlier dismissed four separate preliminary objections that challenged the locusstandi of the plaintiff to file the case and the jurisdiction of the Court to hear it.
As a result, lawyers and political analysts have in their various submissions upheld the judgment as just, brilliant, and in line with precedents.
An Abuja based lawyer, Peter Aniagboso, said the judgment conformed to precedents such as Timorese Silva v. PDP, Emenike v. PDP, Emeka v. Okadigbo, and Senator Lado v. CPC, which went as far as the Supreme Court.
Now, the Ripple Effects
Although the case instituted by Onyishi is still ongoing, many lawyers believe that his prayers have substantially been addressed by the judgment on Eze’s case. For instance, Onyishi’s quest for the cancellation of the primary election also relies heavily on the same judgment relied upon by Eze in pursuit of his case.
For example, he had prayed the court to determine “whether having regard to the subsisting judgment of this honourable court in Suit No FHC/ABJ/CS/830/2014… the PDP can lawfully and validly conduct her gubernatorial primary election 2014 on the 8th day of December 2014 for the forthcoming 2015 Enugu State Governorship election using a doctored list of delegates at variance with the list of delegates already sanctioned, endorsed and validated in the said Suit No FHC/ABJ/CS/830/2014 by this honourable court.”
This has already been interpreted by the Federal High Court in favour of the PDP and Ugwuanyi on the March 2, 2015 judgment. It was therefore not surprising that Onyishi’s counsel, Chief Chris Uche (SAN) had asked for adjournment when the case came up again on March 3, 2015. He said he needed time to study the Court judgment to know if there was still something further to pursue in the matter and how to go about it.
Many are therefore wondering what Onyishi stands to gain at this point by seeking to nullify the primary that produced Ugwuanyi since by law, the party would not be able to conduct a fresh primary or field a fresh candidate at this time.
Situating PDP’s Reaction
The PDP in a statement titled: “The Court has vindicated us” said: “We received with satisfaction, the judgment of the Federal High Court, Abuja, on the suit brought against the party by Senator Ayogu Eze on the choice of Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi as the governorship candidate of the PDP in the forthcoming general election. We have never had any doubts that we religiously complied with extant laws, party guidelines, and all due process in the nomination of Hon. Ugwuanyi as our flag bearer.
“It is therefore gladdening that the Court has vindicated the party and affirmed the candidature of Hon. Ugwuanyi. We also hope that this has finally laid to rest any misgivings and contentions over the December 8, 2014 PDP governorship primary election in Enugu State as we invite our brother, Senator Ayogu Eze, and all former gubernatorial aspirants to join the mass movement for Ugwuanyi’s governorship come May 29, 2015 in the spirit of brotherhood and in the interest of the party and the State.”
Enugu political big wigs and opinion leaders have also continued to tow the state PDP’s line, calling on Eze, Onyishi and other aggrieved former aspirants to join forces with Ugwuanyi. It is however doubtful that Eze is in the mood for any fence-mending. Sources said Ugwuanyi had continued to reach out to all aggrieved former aspirants both after the primary and Court judgment, nothing however suggests that Eze is yielding.
A Jubilation Gone Awry
Spontaneous mass jubilation, which started from the Abuja court premises, which had been turned into a carnival ground by Ugwuanyi’s supporters, soon spread like wild fire across Enugu metropolis down to villages as the news of Ugwuanyi’s filtered into the Coal City State. People trouped out en masse to the streets to celebrate Ugwuanyi’s victory.
Among the women that danced around Enugu streets was Mrs Nkem Onyema, Enugu State Coordinator of Women for Change and Initiative, who said the judgment would bring peace and tranquillity to the state.
“This judgment is in line with the desire of the people of Enugu State and the voice of the people is the voice of God. Enugu women are particularly happy because Ugwuanyi is our candidate,” she said.
Unfortunately, however, some of the youths, who trouped out to jubilate in Eze’s hometown, Umuida in Enugu-Ezike, were not as lucky as four of them were reportedly arrested and arraigned before a Magistrate Court on March 6. This has been interpreted variously.
The Senator claimed in a statement dated March 6, that the youths were his assailants who came with “mortar bombs and some incendiary substances”, describing the incident as “a clear attempt by some mischievous individuals to commit murder and burn down my country home”. But the villagers insisted the youths were being framed because they did nothing other than join other villagers to celebrate the court case.
But with the judgment, in addition to the call on Onyishi, Eze and other aggrieved aspirants by Enugu PDP stakeholders as well as traditional institutions and other interest groups from Enugu North, where the aspirants all hail from, to embrace peace and join hands with Ugwuanyi in the interest of Nsukka zone in particular and Enugu State in general, many are hopeful that the end to the legal tussles might be in sight.
Whatever happens, Enugu people generally believe that Ugwuanyi may have become a moving political train hard to stop and given his popularity, Enugu people are already keeping a date with destiny as the rescheduled elections approach.