From Godwin Tsa, Abuja.
The legal dispute over the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in Akwa Ibom State has taken another dimension following allegations by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mr. Uwemedimo Nwoko, that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) forged the judgment of the Federal High Court, which declared Michael Enyong as the lawful governorship candidate of the party.
The senior lawyer specifically alleged that the electoral body fraudulently imported strange words into the judgment delivered by Justice Fadima Murtala Aminu, in a suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1295/2022, delivered on January 20, 2023, in Abuja, to favour a particular candidate.
Nwoko, who made the revelation yesterday, at the Court of Appeal in Abuja, after the day’s proceedings, explained that the electoral body, in a letter to the National Chairman of the PDP, twisted the judgment of Justice Aminu to the effect that the court found as a fact, that INEC monitored the primary election which produced Michael Enyong.
The letter dated February 1, 2023, with reference number INEC/LD&C/C&J/2022/T/359, was authored by INEC Secretary, Rose Oriaran-Anthony and was entitled Re: Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/1295/2022, between Hon. Michael Enyong vs INEC and others.
The INEC Secretary had, in the letter, quoted the judgment as ordering INEC to recognise and publish the name and details of Enyong as the lawful candidate validly sponsored by the PDP, having emerged as winner of the party’s primary election of May 25, 2022, “monitored by INEC for the Akwa Ibom State gubernatorial candidate for the forthcoming general elections.”
However, the senior lawyer, ho exhibited certified true copies of the judgment, said there was nowhere in the judgment that the issue of monitoring of the primary election by INEC was mentioned.
He said a petition had already been written to the Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahood Yakubu, protesting importation of strange words into the judgment with a view to getting those who twisted the judgment for fraudulent reasons be fished out for punishment.
Nwoko, who represented Mr Umo Eno, who is contesting the governorship ticket with Enyong, expressed optimism that justice will be done in the alleged judgment forgery.
At yesterday’s proceedings, counsel to Enyong, Mr. Seperibo Peters, had sought to move an application to stay proceedings in a matter before the Federal High Court, but later withdrew the application, following the discovery that an appeal had been entered at the Court of Appeal in Abuja, in respect of the same matter.
Justice Olubunmi Oyewole, who presided over a three-man panel of the Appellate Court in a short ruling on the withdrawal of the application, subsequently struck it out.
Meanwhile, no date has been fixed for hearing of the appeal challenging the Federal High Court judgment, which recognised Michael Enyong as PDP gubernatorial candidate.