By Amuche Agbo, Abakaliki
A federal High Court sitting in Abakaliki, Tuesday upheld the election of Dr Ifeanyi Chukwuma Odii as the authentic Peopled Democratic Party gubernatorial candidate in Ebonyi State come 2023 and nullified the rescheduled primaries held on the 4th and 5th of June respectively, which gave victory to senator Obinna Ogba to fly the party governorship flag.
Delivering the judgement, justice Fantun Reman of the Federal High Court in Abakaliki, said the judgement in favour of Ifeanyi Chukwuma Odi, alongside other elected candidates of the party are properly constituted as INEC monitored the elections and returned the candidates successfully.
He noted that considering the fact that the rescheduled primaries was carried out while a substantive suit filed on 30th May 2022 challenging its conduct was pending in court, and, however, ruled that any other primaries organized by the party is null and void.
Addressing journalists shortly after the judgement, the counsel to the plaintiff, who is also the PDP legal adviser, Barrister Mudi Ehrenede, extolled the court for upholding the earlier elections which saw the emergence of Dr. Ifeanyi Odii Chukwuma as the gubernatorial candidate of the party in the State.
According to him, the constitutional provisions of section 4.1 of the electoral act of 2022 as amended, held that electoral processes must involve the presence of the independent electoral commission INEC, and ascribed the conduct of the reschedule primaries as illegal.
He added that any primary elections that INEC did not monitored is useless and should be described as a gathering of the committee of friends.
Meanwhile, efforts to reach the counsel to Senator Obinna Ogba, Barr. Mike Odoh prove abortive as at the time of filing this report.
Recalled that the PDP National Working Committee, NWC had cancelled the 28th and 29th primary elections held in the State and was subsequently challenged in court by Dr Ifeanyi Odii Chukwuma, who emerged gubernatorial candidate.
