From Godwin Tsa, Abuja
Abuja division of the Federal High Court has been asked to restrain the senator, representing Anambra North, Stella Oduah, from presenting herself forward as a candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the 2023 election.
The request is contained in a suit filed against her over an alleged perjury to obtain nomination for the forthcoming senatorial election.
Oduah was sued alongside PDP and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as 2nd and 3rd defendants in the suit.
A chieftain of the party and senatorial aspirant, John Okechukwu Emeka, instituted the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/841/2022 through his counsel, Mbanefo Ikwegbue.
Plaintiff also wants the court to stop PDP from submitting name of Oduah as its candidate for the Anambra North senatorial election.
Similar order was sought against INEC to prohibit it from accepting Oduah’s form PDP and also from according her any right or privilege as candidate in the next year election.
Plaintiff predicated his suit on the grounds that on October 23, 2014, Oduah allegedly committed perjury by making affidavit on oath that she lost original copy of her National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) discharge certificate when indeed, she possessed none.
He further claimed that the senator committed another perjury in INEC form CF001 in 2015 and 2019 wherein she allegedly used false information to obtain nomination for the 2015 and 2019 senatorial election.
The PDP chieftain relied on a letter of May 24, 2022 by the NYSC director general to the effect that Oduah did not complete a mandatory one year service with the corps and was not issued with discharge certificate or letter of exemption.
Maintaining the the senator breached Sections 2 and 12 of the NYSC Act, the plaintiff prayed for an order nullifying the nomination of Oduah as PDP candidate for the 2023 senatorial election for Anambra North.
Plaintiff asked the court to compel PDP and INEC to submit his name as the candidate for the senatorial election having come second in the primary that produced Oduah as a successful candidate.
Although the plaintiff sought to move ex parte application for injunction to restrain publishing of name of Oduah, Justice Inyang Eden Ekwo, however, ordered the plaintiff to put all parties in the suit on notice.=
Ekwo subsequently fixed June 23 for definite hearing of the suit.