Group want Uba brothers sanctioned
Maduako igbokwe l Monday, July 19, 2021
ONITSHA, Anambra, Nigeria – An Anambra state high court presided over by Justice Obiorah Nwabunike on Monday ordered Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to recognise Senator Ugochukwu Uba as the rightful candidate to contest the Anambra governorship election on the platform of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The cou rt also awarded N10 million cost against PDP.The INEC had declined to publish any name pending the determination of the pending suites. But Senator Ugochukwu Uba went to court insisting that he was the proper candidate for the election.
Among other issues Uba wanted the court to determine were ‘who should be the authentic candidate in the governorship election held on June 26, 2021 at Paul University Awka in compliance with Federal Capital Territory High Court order that delegates take part in the primary election in which all the party chairmen elected in 2017 when Mr. Sam Umeaba emerged state chairman, and the primary election held at Dora Akunyili Women Development Centre in which Super Delegates participated and Valentine Ozigbo emerged “in disobedience to Federal High Court, Abuja” and whether INEC should publish Ozigbo’s name.
Uba urged the court to declare that the primary election held by a faction of PDP at Dora Akunyili Women Development Centre which produced Ozigbo as illegal; and that it was illegal for him to parade himself.
He further asked for an order that INEC publish Senator Uba’s name as the governorship candidate and compel INEC to recognise Uba as validly elected.He also asked the court for perpetual injunction stopping Ozigbo from parading himself as governorship candidate.
In his judgment, Hon. Justice Nwabunike held that the faction that conducted its primary election at Dora Akunyili Women Development Centre did not obey court order because rather than forward names of delegates to INEC it used Super Delegates contrary to the judgment of Federal High Court.
The judge said that the faction had wanted to upturn the FCT High Court judgment but failed and still disobeyed it, “so the party has become a troubled house” , he stated .
The court also ruled that any court order must be obeyed until it is upturned or a stay obtained. Meanwhile ,a group known as , Association of Past PDP Councilors and Chairmen in Anambra State, APPCCAS, has asked the National Working Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to sanction the former BoT member of the party, Chief Chris Uba, and his brother, Senator Uguchukwu Uba, for creating crisis in party ahead of the Anambra governorship election.
The group in a communiqué , signed by 21 coordinators od the 21 Local Government Areas of the state, after an emergency meeting held in Abagana, Njikoka Local Government Area of the state, that was made available to newsmen in Awka on Monday said PDP in the state will hardly get it right, if the Uba brothers remained in the party.
The communiqué reads in part, “We’re constrained to issue this communiqué based on our concern that our great party, PDP, had continued to have one issue or the other, which had continued to affect its fortune in successive governorship elections in Anambra.
“Since year, 2006, when Dr. Chris Ngige of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, lost out in the court to Mr. Peter Obi, who was under the All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA, PDP had never had the opportunity to have a shot at the Anambra Government House again.
“Sadly, the ousting of the PDP government under Ngige was as a result of witness from the so-called god-father of Anambra PDP, who told the court that the election was actually rigged in favour of the governor. Since then, in every election, the Uba brothers would cause one problem or the other, which would ultimately rob the party of victory. Some of such issues were that of parallel executive, parallel congresses, and parallel primaries and so on. These repeated in 2010, 2013, and 2017. In the 2019 general election, our great party lost the Anambra South Senatorial election because, Mr. Uba imposed himself on the party as the candidate for the senatorial election.
“Since year 1999, PDP in Anambra never had duly elected state executive. Successive executive were always hand-picked. This fact is based on available records! It was only the Ndubisi Nwobu led executive; which was recently ousted by the Uba brothers through the court that was democratically elected. After that, they went ahead to organize parallel governorship primary on June 26, 2021, all in the effort to ensure that PDP is not together in pursuing the victory at the polls. The result of this recent action of the Uba brothers is that the name of the authentic candidate of the party is not published by INEC on July 16, alongside those of other political parties”
“Therefore, we, as stakeholders of PDP in Anambra, are of the view that the Uba bothers cannot stop manipulating the fortunes of the Anambra PDP unless they are given the level of sanction they deserve; and we urge the National Working Committee of our great party not to handle this request with laxity.”
