APGA INTEGRITY GROUP
20th January, 2016
PRESS RELEASE
… WARNS AGAINST MALICIOUS ATTACK AGAINST UMEH
The All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) Integrity Group strongly opposes the attempt by All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to conduct fresh primaries and field new candidates in the forthcoming Anambra Central Senatorial rerun election.
It is trite that once an election was nullified, candidates who participated in the election will contest the rerun poll as declared by Supreme Court on 13th February 2009, in the judgment delivered by Justice Ikechi Francis Ogbuagu in the appeal field by Labour Party against INEC for rejecting its candidate in the Adamawa State rerun election ordered by the Court of Appeal on April 14, 2007.
The apex court ruled 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.
“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.”
It is this clear judgment of the Supreme Court involving the Labour Party and INEC on the 2007 Adamawa State governorship re-run election that APGA insists that APC and PDP cannot conduct fresh primaries and field new candidates for the Anambra Central re-run poll. It is awkward that Mrs Uche Ekwunife who contested the annulled election on PDP platform has jumped ship to seek the APC ticket for the poll.
We demand integrity, credibility and transparency in the Anambra Central Senatorial re-run poll. We urge INEC to be firm and decisive in ensuring that only eligible candidates will participate in the election. INEC should be guided by the Supreme Court ruling on similar matter and do the right thing as a responsible electoral empire.
The commissioned has said that it would conduct 81 re-run elections nullified by various courts. Would that mean that political parties including newly registered ones and those that did not field candidates in the previous elections are at liberty to join the race.
It is this principled position of APGA that has been maliciously attacked by fair weather politicians who fallaciously claimed that the party candidate, Victor Umeh wants to be a sole candidate for the election.
Umeh insists on due process and rule of law which his opponents and political clowns called his “legal gymnastics in court”. It is obvious that APGA abhors violence and self-help, and approaches the court in any political disagreement which has deepened the nation’s frail democracy. Umeh will always seek redress in court as the hope of all aggrieved people.
Ekwunife admitted in the interview she granted New Telegraph and the Authority newspapers published on 19thJanuary, 2016, that she spent six months in the Senate in court fighting her PDP opponents in the Anambra Central ticket in court. She said, “What happened was that for the six months I was in the Senate, I was in different Courts, from FCT High Court to the Federal High Court, Appeal Court and Supreme Court. I spent the six months going from one court to another, everybody was claiming to be the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP”. That was Ekwunife’s opening statement in the interviews.
She left PDP to join APC when the party’s candidate, Dr. Chris Ngige now Minister of Labour and Employment is the right person to contest the rerun election as decided by the apex court. Nigerians want the rule of law not the rule of might. Just as the good people of Anambra Central want effective representation in the senate and not “legal gymnastics in court”. Which APC and PDP fresh primaries will necessitate.
APGA Integrity Group warns Mrs Ekwunife and Osita Okechukwu who claimed to be the spokesman of the self-styled APC South East Leadership caucus to desist from their malicious attack against Umeh. The era of impunity and politics with bitterness is over. The rule of law must prevail and only eligible candidates will contest the forthcoming Anambra Central Senatorial re-run election. As the ruling party in Anambra State, APGA is the party to beat. We urge INEC to ensure free, fair and acceptable election and ensure quality card readers are used for the poll.
Great Martin Kalu
Publicity Secretary
