lmo North: PDP Rejects Court Judgement, Ararume |The Source

By Adesina Soyooye

The Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP, has rejected the judgement of a Federal High Court, Abuja, which ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to issue former Senator Ifeanyi Ararume a Certificate  of Return as the duly elected  Senator for Imo North Senatorial seat.

Mr Justice Taiwo Taiwo who gave the judgement gave INEC a-72 hour ultimatum within which to do so. Ararume is of the All Progressives Congress, APC.

But  a strongly worded statement, by the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, not only rejected the order, but chided the Court for trying to make a ridicule of the Judiciary by making a pronouncement on a case already decided by the Supreme Court. It is an anathema, the PDP said, for a Federal High Court to make a pronouncement on a case already settled by the Supreme Court.

The seat for Imo.North became vacant after the sudden death of Senator Ben Uwajimogu. The INEC was forced to conduct a Bye-election. But since then, the seat has remained vacant due to the controversy surrounding who the actual APC candidate is – between Ararume and Franklin Ibezim. Because of the controversy, INEC did not put the name of any candidate against the APC.

24 hours before the election, both candidates were disqualified   by the Courts. On February 5, 2021, the Supreme Court upheld the judgement of the Court of Appeal which disqualified Ararume. As for Ibezim, both the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal had  disqualified him for perjury which bordered on alleged certificate forgery.

Given the various Court judgements, the expectation was that the candidate of the PDP, Chief Emmanuel Okewulonu, who scored the highest legal votes, ought to have been declared the winner. While the PDP  waited for that to happen, it was shocked by the Federal High Court’s judgement which declared Ararume the valid APC candidate and, so winner, after he had been disqualified from the contest by the Supreme Court.

The question is: Does a Federal High Court have the power to over-rule the Supreme Court? The INEC is   battling with what to do.

Meanwhile an Imo High Court had, on March 19, restricted INEC from issuing a Certificate of Return to Ararume.

Following is the PDP’s statement rejecting the judgement and order of Federal High Court declaring Ararume winner, dated March 22, 2021.

PDP Rejects High Court Judgement on Imo North Senatorial Bye-election

“The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) rejects in its entirety, the March 18, 2020 judgment by the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, which ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to issue Certificate of Returns to Sen. Ifeanyi Araraume within 72 hours.

“This judgment further heightens our fears that the All Progressives Congress (APC)-controlled Federal Government is bent on using certain officials  within our judiciary to suppress the opposition and subvert the will of the people.

“Our party wonders how could a matter which has been decided by the Supreme Court be overruled by a Federal High Court

“It was clear to all that the Supreme Court on February 5, 2021, upheld the ruling of the Court of Appeal, which nullified the candidature of Sen. Ifeanyi Araraume as APC candidate for Imo North senatorial district bye-election. That verdict of the Supreme Court put to rest the candidature of Sen. Ifeanyi Araraume.

“It is therefore bizarre that a Federal High Court presided over by Justice Taiwo Taiwo, which Sen. Ifeanyi Araraume had approached to declare him the authentic candidate and order INEC to issue him Certificate of Returns had done so in flagrant disregard to the Supreme Court ruling on same matter.

“Our party holds that this is a direct miscarriage of justice, which poses great danger not only to our democracy but also to our survival as a people and should not be allowed to stand.

“For the records, our candidate for the December 5, 2020, Imo North senatorial bye-election, Chief Emmanuel Okewulonu, polled the highest valid votes cast at that election since courts of competent jurisdictions disqualified the two APC candidates, Sir Frank Ibezim and Senator Ifeanyi Araraume, less than 24 hours to the election.

“On the strength of the disqualifications, the names of these two candidates were conspicuously excluded by INEC in the final list that was released. They were not part of the total election process.

“Moreover, INEC’s refusal to declare Chief Emmanuel Okewulonu of PDP winner after the election quickly sold the electoral umpire out as being under heavy influence of superior power.

“Had INEC done the needful at the time of the election by declaring Chief Okewulonu the winner, we would not have come to the current sorry pass where conflicting judicial orders are being churned out every second.

“We therefore reject this recent judgement and call on INEC to handover the Certificate of Returns to Chief Emmanuel Okewulonu, who is the authentic winner of the Dec 5, 2020 Imo North senatorial bye-election, sequel to the ruling of the Supreme Court.”