Trouble for PDP as Court Sacks All Candidates in Southeast State, Gives INEC Strong Directive
- The PDP has found itself in a deeper crisis in Ebonyi as the Federal High Court in Abuja has nullified all its primary elections conducted in the southeast state
- To be clear, the nullified elections were those that produced the PDP's candidates for the State House of Assembly, National Assembly and the Governorship elections
- Justice Binta Nyako ordered the party to conduct a fresh state Congress in Ebonyi for the purpose of new primaries within 14 days
- Meanwhile, the purported chairman of the PDP in Ebonyi state, Joseph Silas Onu, has reacted to the development
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FCT, Abuja - The Federal High Court in Abuja has nullified all the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) primary elections in Ebonyi state.
The nullified elections were those that produced the PDP's candidates for the State House of Assembly, National Assembly and the Governorship for the 2023 elections in the state, according to The Nation.
Source: Twitter
Ebonyi 2023: PDP asked to conduct fresh state congress within 14 days
The presiding judge, Justice Binta Nyako, on Wednesday, December 7, ordered the PDP to conduct a fresh state Congress in Ebonyi for the purpose of the election of its candidates within 14 days.
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Justice Nyako also directed the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) to monitor the fresh state congresses.
2023 elections: The genesis of the PDP's woes in Ebonyi
Legit.ng gathers that the judgment followed a suit filed by Okoroafor Tochukwu Okorie against the PDP and INEC.
The court agreed with Okorie's lawyer, Okoro Mkemakolam, that the cancelled PDP primary in Ebonyi was conducted in disobedience of the order of the Court of Appeal, staying the execution of the judgment of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, which had declared Joseph Sila Onu as the Ebonyi state chairman of the party.
Recall that the Abuja division of the Federal High Court had, in a judgment delivered on April 13, 2022, recognised Joseph Silas Onu as the authentic PDP chairman in Ebonyi state.
Dissatisfied with the court verdict, Okorie, through his lawyer, approached the Court of Appeal in Abuja to set aside the lower court's judgment.
He followed the appeal suit up with a motion for a stay of execution of the judgment of the Federal High Court, which was granted by the appellate court.
Despite this, the PDP, in violation of the appellate court's stay of execution, continued to recognise Onu as its state Chairman.
In May, Onu convened and chaired the state congress of the PDP in Ebonyi state for the purpose of conducting the primary election, also in defiance of the clear orders of the Court of Appeal.
The plaintiff, Okorie, had prayed the court to set aside the actions of the PDP taken against the subsisting orders of the court, which Justice Nyako has now granted in the latest ruling.
Ebonyi PDP crisis: Onu reacts, says judgement not enforceable
Reacting to the development, Onu reiterated that the party’s governorship ticket remained resolved and settled in favour of Dr Ifeanyi Odii.
He dismissed the judgement and described it as not enforceable, saying the Supreme Court had ruled on the matter in favour of Odii.
According to the purported PDP chairman in Ebonyi, no other court in the country could revisit the matter in any form, Daily Sun reported.
2023 elections: PDP governorship candidate in Ebonyi working for APC? Media aide speaks
Meanwhile, Legit.ng earlier reported that Dr Ifeanyi Odii, the (now sacked?) PDP governorship candidate in Ebonyi state denied the allegation that he was working with the All Progressives Congress (APC), hoping to 'secure' an appointment after the 2023 general elections.
There had been widespread rumours on social media that Odii and the APC governorship candidate, Francis Nwifuru, were recently sighted in a meeting, at the Oriental Hotels, in Lagos.
It was alleged that Odii was working for the APC with a view to getting the post of Commissioner for Commerce and Industry and used the position to bring his business associates to invest in Ebonyi state.
Source: Legit.ng
