2023: PDP Tackles APC Over Umahi, Ayade, Matawalle’s Defection

•Trouble in Ebonyi •Uneasy Calm in Cross River • Zamfara Gov’s Fate Hangs in the Balance • Why States Are Strategic For Victory in Presidential Election

The race to the 2023 general elections is getting hot with the passing of each day as the two leading political parties - the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) - are upping their games and perfecting their plans to outsmart each other in the big battle ahead. In a close presidential election which the 2023 poll is expected to be, the governing party in the state usually plays a key role in determining where the votes go in elections.

For the opposition PDP, the situation in which the governors of Ebonyi and Cross River States, David Umahi and Ben Ayade, as well as their Zamfara State counterpart, Bello Mattawalle, have found themselves over their defection to the governing APC might just be the needed tonic to take back the three states from the APC. The opposition party is therefore not leaving any stone unturned in its resolve even as the APC realises the implications of losing the states to the opposition party ahead of the 2023 elections.

Without any iota of doubt, this is not the best of times for the defectors as their actions are currently causing ripples in the polity. More worrisome is the fact that the calculations of most of those involved do not seem to be working, given the legal implications of their big gamble.

At present, Umahi, Ayade and Mattawalle are in the eye of the storm as their fate hangs in the balance as a result of their defection from the PDP to the APC. The three governors are not alone in the dilemma as some lawmakers in the National Assembly and State Houses of Assembly have found themselves in the same situation.

TROUBLE IN EBONYI

Ebonyi State was on the boil over the weekend after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) disclosed last Thursday that it would meet this week to “deliberate over the court cases on the defection of the Governor and DeputyGovernor of Ebonyi State and 16 members of the State House of Assembly from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress.”

Following INEC’s disclosure, some lawmakers in the state went public with their position on the pending matter. They alerted the public on the alleged illegalities being carried out by the 16 defector-lawmakers against the remaining loyal eight.

National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee of INEC, Mr. Festus Okoye, had said on that Thursday that after the Commission was served with nine separate orders and motions from various courts on the defection, it responded by drafting its “Legal Services and Clearance Committee to study the processes,” adding that “The Committee will meet next week (this week) to deliberate on the matter and thereafter, make its decision public.”

The INEC’s decision to make its decision public this week, THEWILL learnt, has emboldened loyal lawmakers of the PDP in Ebonyi State to take a stand on the ongoing politics and alleged witch-hunt being orchestrated by the Speaker, Hon Francis Nwifiru, in the House of Assembly.

The eight lawmakers who refused to defect alongside the 16 others with Governor Dave Umahi and his deputy, Kelechi Igwe, to the APC on November 17, 2020, spoke through one of them, Hon. Victor Aleke, on Friday, March 18, 2022.

They denounced what they described as an assault on their fundamental rights and freedom of association by the Speaker.

According to Aleke, representing Ebonyi North West Constituency, anarchy looms in the state, following Nwifiru’s victimisation of the eight representatives.

He accused the Speaker of carrying out unconstitutional and illegal acts by allegedly forging resignation letters, purporting them to belong to his fellow lawmakers and declaring their seats vacant.

According to Aleke, the situation was more worrisome when lawmakers, who were supposed to uphold the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, abused the law by forging resignation letters, purporting them to belong to their fellow lawmakers and declaring their seats vacant, saying the act was poised to plunge the state into anarchy.

He said, “It is in the public domain that on March 8, 2022, a

Federal High Court sitting in Abuja sacked the Ebonyi State Speaker, Mr Francis Ogbonnaya Nwifuru and 16 sixteen other lawmakers for defecting from the party on whose platform they were elected.

“Reactions to the judgement have been overwhelming. Most people found no fault with removing the lawmakers from office because it tallies with the express provisions of the constitution.

“As lawmakers, the constitution has left no one in doubt that political parties are the most important actors in the nation’s electoral process. To start with, the constitution provides that only aspirants sponsored by political parties can be candidates in an election.

“The sacked members of the Ebonyi State House of Assembly are fully aware of all these constitutional provisions, but they have decided to embark on acts of forgery and contempt of law by disobeying the Justice Inyang Ekwo judgement that sacked them from office.

“I hereby inform the general public to disregard the concocted information on the media that I and two other People’s Democratic Party Ebonyi State House of Assembly members resigned our elected position, thereby declaring our seats vacant. These actions by the sacked lawmakers are total abuse of the rule of law and contempt of the court judgement, which is tantamount to arrest.

“The good people of Ebonyi State and Nigerians should disregard such information as it holds no water and it cannot stand. I urge all the constituents of these lawmakers whose seats were purportedly declared vacant to remain calm and peaceful as the court pronouncement that sacked the 16 Ebonyi State House of Assembly members still stands until they get a stay of execution or get favourable judgement from the appellate court.

“For your information, as it stands now, the members of the Ebonyi State House of Assembly members are Hon Chris Usulor, Hon. Victor Aleke, Hon. Chidi Ejem, Hon. Humphrey Nwuruku, Hon. Dr. Oliver Osi, Hon. Franca Okpo, Hon. Okechukwu Ali and Hon. Lilian Ngozi Eziulo.”