The political logjam arising from the alleged non-refusal of the Abia State House of Assembly leadership to swear in Peoples Democratic Party’s, PDP, Aaron Uzodike as a member representing the Aba North State Constituency, over four months after he was declared validly elected by the Court of Appeal which sat in Lagos, appears headed for the worse.
On Sunday April 14, 2024, in an official statement, the Abia PDP said contrary to the news being bandied about, there is no court quagmire restraining the Abia House of Assembly from swearing in its candidate, Hon Uzodike as directed by the Court of Appeal. The Party insisted that it is only a ploy by Governor Alex Otti and the Labour Party, LP, leadership of the Assembly to truncate justice and deny the PDP its legally won seat .
The PDP response is coming on the heels last Friday April 12’s statement purportedly issued by the Aba Council of Traditional Rulers asking the state Legislative body to declare the Aba North State Constituency seat vacant as a result of what it called Court quagmire.
The Traditional Rulers had called on the Speaker, Rt Hon Emmanuel Emereuwa to declare the seat of the constituency vacant, citing a court injunction which has prevented the swearing-in of Uzodike as the representative of the people as reason .
The Aba Traditional rulers comprising HRM Eze Chima Kingsley the Chairman of Aba North council of traditional rulers, Eze Dr Isaac Ikonne ,Eze Love Ariwodo ,Eze Sylvanus Egege ,Eze Maclord Nwachukwu ,Eze Ugochukwu Ihediwa ,Eze Iheanacho Ogbonna and others had, in a letter addressed to Governor Otti,on the same issue called on him to intervene.
“As Traditional Rulers in Aba North, we are deeply concerned that our Constituency, has been left for six months without a Representative.
To this end, in the midst of the quagmire at the Court ,we hereby ask the Speaker Rt Hon Emmanuel Emereuwa to declare the seat vacant and a fresh election be conducted ” the Traditional Rulers stated .
But the PDP in a statement issued on Sunday April 14 by its Vice Chairman/ Acting Publicity Secretary Abraham Amah entitled ” It Is Unlawful To Declare Aba North State Constituency Seat Vacant ” and made available to The Source, noted that there is no quagmire as being insinuated by the Traditional Rulers of Aba.
“To be very clear on this, there is no Court quagmire as insinuated in the letter written by the traditional rulers. It is just a pretext and a ploy for the Labour Party under the watch of Governor Alex Otti, and Speaker, Emmanuel Emereuwa to truncate justice and deny PDP its legally won seat in the House of Assembly.
“The Court of Appeal which sat in Lagos had on November 27 2023 reversed the election of Destiny Nwagwu of the Labour Party and restored the mandate of Hon. Aaron Uzodike of the PDP as the validly elected member representing Aba North State Constituency
“To confirm the authenticity of the judgment, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC issued Hon Aaron Uzodike with a valid Certificate of Return as required by law and by which instrument the Speaker ought to swear him into office.immediately.
“It is important to state here that it is only the INEC as empowered by the constitution of the federal Republic of Nigeria that has the powers to declare a legislative seat vacant.
“So the decoy employed by the Labour Party using the institution of Traditional Rulers to ask the Speaker to declare that seat vacant is a no-brainer and a futile attempt that would fell flat on its face before the law.
“We find it saddening that Abia politics is gradually descending to this lowest before our eyes as those behind this effort want to ridicule the hallowed institution o traditional rulers by using it to confuse and mislead the public and truncate justice for selfish ends .
“Of all the judgments delivered in the wake of the post-elections petitions in 2023 ,all except the one that restored Hon Uzodike have been obeyed by the respective authorities .
“And it is disgusting and inconceivable that the people who are beneficiaries of the law are the main architects of this unfortunate illegality
“Sadly, again, the good people of Aba North who have lost representation for the past six months have all kept quiet and refused to speak out against the injustice being meted out to one and all of them at the same time ,except the last attempt to use the traditional rulers to embellish a lie that can never defeat the truth in a challenge a thousand times”, the PDP stated .
Discover more from The Source
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
