Palpable tension is brewing in Anambra People’s Democratic Party (PDP), over who becomes the flag bearer for the party in the state’s November 6 governorship election.
A source had it that an Abuja Appeal Court ruling, on Monday, disqualified the candidature of Mr. Valentine Ozigbo for the governorship election.
The source claimed that the ruling rejected an appeal filed by the Ndubuisi Nwobu-led Anambra state PDP against the earlier judgement obtained by Sam Anyakaorah/Sir Chukwudi Umeaba from Justice Olukayode Adeniyi of the Federal High in Abuja.
It said the court ruling reaffirmed the nomination of Senator Ugochukwu Uba as the authentic Anambra state PDP governorship candidate by the Sir Chukwudi Umeaba and Sam Anyakorah group.
The report from the source, which is currently making waves online, said that the three-man Court of Appeal panel, in the 10-minute ruling, threw out the PDP appeal case and directed the party to fully obey the earlier (Justice Adeniyi) court ruling of the Federal High Court in Abuja.
It claimed that the court further approved the delegates’ list of the Umeaba/Anyakorah group as the authentic list for the primary, warning the party to desist from parading Valentine Ozigbo as the party candidate for the poll.
Reacting to the claims of that source, a legal adviser to the PDP, Clems Ezika, said it was “a fallacious information peddled by the sworn enemies of democracy in the state” and that it was not a genuine information regarding the situation of the appeal between Umeaba and Nwobu.
Ezika painted a different picture of the outcome of the appeal, saying that “the court of appeal sitting in Abuja, Monday ruled that since (an) appeal has been entered, all the parties should go and prepare their briefs of argument so that a date will be chosen for argument,” adding that there was no need for interlocutory applications and motions.
A source close to the Ndubuisi Nwobu camp disclosed that the Court of Appeal, with respect to Appeal NO: CA/ABJ/CV/359/2021, was withdrawn by the appellant’s counsel.
According to this source, the PDP filed two appeal cases, one for stay of the execution of the Justice Adeniyi ruling and the other for expedited hearing, both of which were struck out, having been withdrawn by the party’s counsel at the hint of the court.
It said that “The parties were directed by the court to file their respective briefs of argument so as to make progress in the case,” and that the appeal had not been heard nor any ruling made on it.”
In another development, following the party primary result, the first runner-up in the party primary, Dr. Obiora Okonkwo, rejected the outcome of the exercise on Sunday.
Okonkwo, who pulled 58 votes against Ozigbo’s 62 said, that “the outcome of that exercise did not reflect the wishes and desires of the people.” He insisted that there were “serious issues and irregularities regarding the primary election. First, in response to a very late court order barring elected delegates from participating in the primaries, the National Working Committee of the party decided, at the last minute, to limit the voting to a small number of statutory delegates.”
