Anambra: Court of Appeal Declares Ozigbo Authentic Candidate Of PDP In Nov. Guber Poll
The Court of Appeal Awka Division sitting in Abuja on Friday declared Mr Valentine Ozigbo as the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the Nov. 6 governorship election in Anambra State.
The Panel of Justices led by Hon Justice Dongban Mensa, also ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to publish the name of Mr Valentine Ozigbo as the candidate of the PDP on the list of candidates for the election with immediate effect.
The Appellate Court ruled that the governorship primary election conducted by the National Working Committee (NWC) of the PDP at the Prof. Dora Akunyili Women’s Development Centre on June 26 was lawful.
Uba did not participate in the exercise.
The Court frowned at Dr Ugochukwu Uba who was the first respondent in the suit and his lawyers for going on voyage of forum shopping.
Recall that Uba who purportedly won a parallel primary election organised by a group not known to the PDP had approached a High Court sitting in Awka to obtain an order restraining INEC from publishing the name of Ozigbo or any other person as candidate of PDP.
The High Court presided over by Justice Nwabunike on July 19 ordered INEC to enlist Uba as PDP candidate with a fine of N10 million against Ozigbo.
Justice Nwabunike ruled that the Court Order which restrained PDP from conducting the primary had neither been stayed nor set aside.
He said though PDP as a body had their constitution and national executive both could not be above the order of Court and that the party had not successfully vacated the extant orders before conducting the primary
But Ozigbo and the PDP were not satisfied with the Hon Judge’s ruling saying they were not given time to respond to the processes served on them before proceeding with the hearing of the plaintiff’s case.
They accused the Judge of making away with the case file, thus preventing the defendants from obtaining copies of the judgement for their appeal.
According to the PDP the ruling was “a black-market judgement which cannot stand on appeal”.
They then proceeded to Court of Appeal which dismissed Justice Nwabunike’s judgements and awarded N10 Million damages against Uba for being a meddlesome interloper.
The Abuja Court of Appeal judgement has now cleared all legal and administrative hurdles for Ozigbo who is a leading candidate in the election and his party, the PDP to go into campaigns proper.
Ozigbo, the immediate past president of Transcorp PLC and business mogul is contesting the election with Mrs Azuka Enemo, a two-time Commissioner of Local Government Affairs.in Anambra as running mate.
