PDP Ticket: Fury over Peter Obi’s boast  of pocketing Appeal Court on Ubah, Ozigbo case

AWKA, Anambra, Nigeria  – Fresh crisis has hit the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) over alleged boast by former Anambra state Governor, Peter Obi, of having secured the understanding of the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem, to sway the judgement of the Anambra PDP governorship primary case before the Court in favour of his political godson, Valentine Ozigbo.

Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem is expected to deliver judgment on the legal battle between Senator Ugochukwu Ubah and Valentine Ozigbo for the PDP governorship ticket, on Friday.

It would be recalled that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has restrained from publishing any candidate for the PDP pending the decision of the Appeal Court on the matter.

However, ahead of the crucial judgment, Peter Obi was said to have bragged in a meeting on Thursday in Abuja, that though the claims and substance in the case do not favour Ozigbo, he (Obi) has extracted commitment from Justice Dongban-Mensem to manipulate and subvert the case in his (Ozigbo’s) favour.

The former governor reportedly boasted that he was able to pressure the President of the Court of Appeal to respect the Catholic bond and spin the matter in favour of Ozigbo. Obi was said to have narrated how he pressured Justice Dongban-Mensem, a catholic, to use her offices to help another Catholic, Ozigbo, against Ubah, even if the substance of the case is not in his (Ozigbo’s) favour.

The former governor was reported to have further narrated in the Thursday meeting in Abuja, that though Justice Dongban-Mensem pointed out that there was no merit in Ozigbo’s claim for the PDP ticket, he, (Obi) persuaded her to apply legal technicalities to hand over the ticket to Ozigbo.

The PDP congress that produced Ozigbo’s has been faulted for not meeting the statutory two-third requirement of the members of the state congress as provided by the PDP constitution in addition to being was conducted without a duly constituted state executive of the party. 

Despite the flaws, Peter Obi was said to be so confident of a favourable outcome of his overtures that he had placed a call to the National Organizing Secretary of the PDP, Col. Austin Akobundu, to schedule the hitherto shelved inauguration of the Anambra government election national campaign council for next Monday.

This is even as Obi was said to have assured that necessary inducements have been pulled from the main campaign purse to prosecute the project. Meanwhile the development is already generating misgivings regarding the credibility of the judgment, if delivered in Ozigbo’s favour.