Nine Federal Lawmakers representing Anambra State on the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) platform at the National Assembly have written the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as regards their status with respect to the sack of the State party leadership by the Supreme Court.
The Federal Lawmakers including Senator Andy Uba and Stella Oduah in a letter addressed to the Chairman of INEC by their lawyer, Chief Arthur Okafor (SAN), insisted that the Supreme Court Judgement delivered on Friday has in no way invalidated their seats at both chambers of the National Assembly.
In the letter titled “RE: JUDGEMENT IN SC. 37/2015” dated January 29, 2016, the Federal Lawmakers implored INEC Chairman to “resist the machinations of those who are ill motivated and bent on causing confusion in the system. If you find that our clients were nominated by the National Executive of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which is the case, then in the absence of a Court Order, there will be no compulsion or justification on your part to interfere with the mandate vested in our clients by the PDP and the electorate.”
The Lawmakers insisted that the Primary elections which produced them as candidates for the 2015 general elections was as required by law conducted by the National Secretariat of the Peoples Democratic Party and not the Anambra chapter.
Mr. Obunike Ohaegbu, a legal practitioner and also one of the counsels to the affected Lawmakers in a statement said that there was never a time the candidacy of the NASS members was the subject in the matter decided by the Supreme Court on Friday. Continuing to say that the Supreme Court did not in its ruling imply or directly pronounce any decision on the members of the National Assembly.
Chief Arthur Okafor further proceeded in defence of his clients by citing two judgements of the Supreme Court to support his argument, he said; “In two remarkable pronouncements, the Supreme Court of Nigeria eloquently held that no list other than that forwarded by the National Executive of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) shall be countenanced by the Commission.
“In EMEKA v. OKADIGBO (2012) 18 NWLR (Part 1331) 55 at 87 Paras H-C the court held thus:- ‘A diligent reading of the above reveals that it is the National Executive Committee of the PDP that is responsible for the conduct of the party’s National Assembly primaries. The Court of Appeal was correct. There can only be one valid primary and that is the primaries conducted by the National Executive Committee. A primary conducted by the State Chapter of the PDP is not a primary. It is an illegal contraption that carries with it no rights. It is a complete nullity. The primaries conducted on the 8th of January, 2011 were conducted by the National Executive Committee of the PDP, and it was the only authentic primaries conducted by the PDP to choose its candidate for the Anambra North Senatorial Seat. On the other hand, the purported primaries conducted on the 10th or 12th of January, 2011 were conducted by the State Chapter of the PDP. It is null and void for the purpose of choosing the PDP’s candidate for the senatorial elections. It is clear that at no time were two parallel primaries conducted.”