By Ismail Omipidan
The joy of members of the ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in Anambra State and those of its supporters within and outside the state knew no bounds when barely 72 hours after the resounding victory of Governor Willy Obiano for a second term, the Appeal court ordered that the Anambra Central Senatorial district rerun be conducted in January, 2018.
By the decision of the Appeal Court, nothing would have prevented the chairman of the Obiano re-election campaign team and former national chairman of APGA, Chief Victor Umeh, from emerging the senator-elect from the January contest.
This is so because; an earlier judgement had barred the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Uche Ekwunife and its party from participating in the re-run. And for the All Progressives Congress (APC), it is unlikely if Senator Chris Ngige, would abandon his ministerial portfolio for a contest he is not too sure of winning, as the court also barred the new APC candidate, Sharon Ikeazor, from participating in the contest.
The November 20 order of re-run was handed down by a three-member panel of the court headed by Justice Tinuade Akomolafe Wilson.
The court gave the order while delivering judgment in a suit filed by APGA and its candidate, Chief Victor Umeh.
Umeh and his party had approached the court to challenge the February 29 verdict of the Federal High Court in Abuja, which ordered the inclusion of PDP and its candidate, Senator Uche Ekwenife in the Anambra Central Senatorial re-run.
The seat had been vacant since Ekwunife’s election was nullified in 2015. The Anambra State Election Petition Tribunal and the Court of Appeal sitting in Awka had in their concurrent judgments, nullified the election that produced Ekwunife as Senator on the grounds that she was not validly nominated by her party.
Both the tribunal and the appellate court directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct re-run election in the district.
Dissatisfied with the verdicts, Ekwunife who was formerly a member of APGA before she defected to the PDP took the case to the Supreme Court for redress.
But on February 10, the apex court struck out Ekwunife’s appeal.
In a unanimous judgment, a five-man panel of Justices of the apex court led by Justice Tanko Mohammed also gave INEC the go ahead to conduct a re-run election for the Senatorial district.
But while INEC was making arrangement to conduct the re-run next year, another verdict came from another court, directing the President of the senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki, to swear in Dr. Obiora Okonkwo of the PDP as the validly elected senator for Anambra central senatorial district.
The verdict was delivered by the Federal High Court in Abuja, last Wednesday. It also ordered INEC, to forthwith, issue Certificate of Return to Dr. Okonkwo.
The court’s judgment, delivered by Justice John Tsoho, followed a suit marked FHC/Abj/CS/1092/14, brought before it by Dr. Okonkwo against the PDP, its former National Chairman, Alhaji Adamu Muazu, INEC and Mrs. Uche Ekwunife.
The plaintiff had in the suit filed in 2014, long before Ekwunife’s election was nullified, told the court that he contested and won the primary election PDP conducted for Anambra central senatorial district held on December 7, 2014, at Ekwueme Square in Awka. He claimed that he scored the highest number of votes cast at the said primary.
He further averred that the primary was conducted by the National Executive Committee of the party. He however said that the chairman of the Electoral Panel the PDP sent to Anambra State to conduct the exercise refused to sign and forward the Result Sheet of the primary poll.
Instead, he added, the Electoral panel chair said that “Abuja” had directed them on whom they should return whether the he (plaintiff) scored the highest number of votes or not.
Dissatisfied with action of the party, the plaintiff approached the court wherein he sought an interpretation of section 87 of the Electoral Act, 2010, even as he alleged breach of provisions of 2014 PDP Guidelines for primary election.
The plaintiff further said he was aware that the Court of Appeal in Enugu had in an election petition No CA/EPT/28/2015, held that Ekwunife did not win the said primary election and was not qualified to contest the National Assembly Election. He insisted that what the appellate court decided in the petition that was filed by Chief Victor Umeh of APGA, against the PDP, was what he equally went to court to challenge, to the effect that he was the validly nominated candidate of the PDP that scored highest number of votes at the primary and not Ekwunife.
Interestingly, after about three years into the hearing of the suit, all the defendants including Ekwunife withdrew their objections to the suit, saying they would abide by the decision of the court.
Accordingly, Justice Tsoho agreed with counsel to the plaintiff, Chief Sebastine Hon, SAN, that in view of the withdrawal of counter-affidavits by all defendants, the court was at liberty under the law to enter judgment in Okonkwo’s favour.
Justice Tsoho therefore proceeded to grant relief three and sub-paragraph (i-iv) of the plaintiff’s amended originating summons dated June 20, 2017.
Particularly, the court granted “an order that the Plaintiff/Applicant is the validly nominated candidate of PDP at the 7th December, 2014 PDP Primary Election to nominate its candidate for Anambra Central Senatorial District at Ekwueme Square Awka Anambra State whose Political Party (PDP) contested and won the National Assembly Election that was held on the 28th of March, 2015. “An order directing that INEC the 3rd Defendant/Respondent cancels the Certificate of Return (if any is subsisting) issued to the 4th Defendant/Respondent (Chief Mrs Uche Ekwunife).
“An order that the 3rd Defendant/Respondent (INEC) issue a Certificate of Return to the Plaintiff/Applicant Dr Obiora Okonkwo forthwith as the Senator representing Anambra Central Senatorial District of Anambra State. As well as an order that the Senate President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria swear in the Plaintiff/Applicant Dr Obiora Okonkwo forthwith as the Senator representing Anambra Central Senatorial District of Anambra State in the Senate of National Assembly of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as there is no occupant of the said seat at the Senate at the moment”.
Justice Tsoho also concurred with the plaintiff’s counsel that based on Supreme Court judgments, pre-election matters like the instant case take priority over decisions by election tribunals and other courts in election disputes based on a political seat already contested for.
How it all started
On December 7, 2015, the Court of Appeal in Enugu nullified Ekwunife’s election, who before then represented Anambra Central Senatorial District at the Senate. Justice A. H Yahya of the Court of Appeal ruled that Ekwnuife’s election did not meet the provision of the Electoral Act, and ordered a fresh election within 90 days.
Having held that Ekwunife’s nomination did not meet the PDP guidelines on primaries, the Court stated that “the 11th respondent (Ekwunife) was therefore not the product of a valid primary and was therefore not duly and legitimately nominated. That has disqualified her from contesting the election in the Anambra Central senatorial District”.
The nullification of that election, threw up different opinions and different interpretations of the Court judgments. While ruling that Ekwunife was not a candidate in the election, the Court consequentially ordered a new election and different parties and opponents cashed in on what some saw as a lacuna in the judgment to provide various self-serving interpretations.
Umeh, who came second in the poll, argued that the judgment exempts PDP from fielding a candidate in the re-run election. For Ekwunife, the judgment meant that the faction of the PDP that produced her was illegal, therefore, since nothing can come from nothing, Ekwunife figured that the only route open to her was to seek a new platform, and she swiftly defected to the APC.
But she was defeated in the primary by Sharon Ikeazor, who emerged the party’s candidate.
For the PDP as a party, it interpreted the judgment to mean that it was free to conduct another primary to pick a new candidate. But just as the judgment did not expressly preclude a new primary except by the ‘Ekwunife faction’, it also did not expressly mandate a new primary.
INEC, being the electoral umpire however came to the rescue by issuing a statement barring fresh candidates from participating in the rerun. It may have done that mainly as a result of court judgments in similar cases.
Daily Sun recalls that in 2009, the Supreme Court had laid to rest the controversy as to whether it is constitutional for a party to field a new candidate or conduct a fresh primary for a rerun.
In a case between the Labour Party (LP) and the INEC, the Supreme Court ruled that no party is required to present a new candidate for a rerun or conduct fresh primary.
In its ruling, delivered on the 13th day of February, 2009 by Justice Ikechi Francis Ogbuagu, the Supreme Court affirmed the verdict of the Court of Appeal saying that “where a general election has been held and there is a false start, for example, a candidate who ought to have been part of the election was unlawfully excluded or there was no level playing ground for all the candidates and that election is subsequently either cancelled by the regulating authority like INEC or nullified by an order of a court or tribunal, and a re-run or re-start is ordered, it is my humble view that the re-run or re-start refers to that general election cancelled or nullified, and not a bye-election”.
Justice Ogbuagu explained further that “the consequence of this is that all the candidates including the one unlawfully excluded would now get back to the starting line for a fair and free contest. It does not admit of any other candidate since as it were the period for nomination and screening of candidates would have elapsed. “
Therefore, in adherence to the rulings of the courts, INEC had said some political parties and their candidates have been excluded from the race. It said that only those parties and candidates who participated in the annulled polls would be eligible to take part in the forthcoming rerun.
And for the APC, an Abuja Federal High Court ruling dashed its hopes of fielding a fresh candidate in the rerun after the court dismissed a suit brought by Sharon Ikeazor seeking to compel INEC to accept her as a substitute to Dr. Chris Ngige .
The Okonkwo angle
Dr. Okonkwo who contested the last PDP primary had said:” after the primaries, I had gone to court to say with all the proofs that, indeed, I am the original candidate of PDP for Anambra Central senatorial district election. The electoral law and the constitution have made it very clear that it is the party that wins, not the individual. In this case, the court has said Uche did not win the primary election, so the court has actually joined verdict to our own claim. We are only waiting for any other court to authenticate it, that this is ours. We were not party to post election matter between her and other contestants.” And that was the verdict that was returned last Wednesday.
However, only time will tell if this latest verdict will put the matter to rest once and for all. But what is sure for now is that, with last Wednesday’s verdict, APGA and its supporters may have rejoiced too soon as far as the Anambra central senatorial seat is concerned.