(Ugoachataberu)
A matter before the court is presumed sub judice and should under no circumstance be discussed outside the court.That should have been the case with the subject of this article to which I now respond. It seems we are in era of anarchy and rascality. That has been the driving force that propels the rascals who left the PDP for Labour Party in the present political dispensation. Otherwise, what business has Chukwudi Chime, if that be a name, passing judgment on a matter before the court with the intention to corrupt justice and its righteous flow, and sway the mind of the honourable court?
We are compelled to respond to this in order to mitigate the misinformation therein. The piece is replete with willfully wishful thinking. To the Enugu Labour Party who readily asked to be joined in the suit frivolously brought against the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) by one Chidi Idoko, the pot of corn appears to have been toppled in their vain imagination, and so, the mother hen and its chicks are now rejoicing the same way they labour in vain. Meanwhile, pre election cases are supposed to be filed within 14 days of any action the petitioner wants redressed by the court or else it is considered statute barred. Let us see how this puerile suit fares at the court, whether Idoko and the Labour Party will not cover their faces in shame.
Looking at the matter as brought by Chidi Idoko who is neither a member of the PDP nor affected in any way by the party's primaries, one would conclude that he has no business suing the party with regard to when it conducted its primaries, except as a meddlesome interloper. The court won't have Idoko waste its time on a matter that lacks merit and should not have been brought before the temple of justice in the first place, since whether or not the Enugu State PDP submitted the register of its members 30 days before its primaries yields no ounce at all in the consideration of the violation of the Electoral Act; it is immaterial and deserves no such legal hype as Idoko and Labour Party are wont to do. Idoko is just being pedantic and mischievous. How does that infringe on his rights since he is not even a member of the PDP?
According to the said Chime, the main issue before the court is whether the PDP by submitting its membership list for Enugu State less than 30 days before the conduct of its primaries violated section section 77(3) of the Electoral Act 2022 which holds that 'each political party shall make such register available to the Commission not later than 30 days before the date fixed for the party primaries, congresses or convention.' The essence of every law is to guarantee justice. Assuming without conceding that the PDP in Enugu State conducted its primaries earlier than the said 30 days, how does that serve the cause of injustice to anyone? Did any of the aspirants object to it, including the ones who failed at the primaries and ran to Labour Party? Did any of the candidates go to court to question the date when they all pledged their support to the winners? How does this become the problem of Chika Idoko of ADC and Labour Party? The suit is frivolous, otiose and lacks merit.
Section 84(13) as quoted by Chime may have stipulated the punishment to a party that fails to comply with the electoral act, but would not take the claimed shortage of a few days as a complete breach of the electoral act when that is not the objective fact in the sense of the breach.The PDP in Enugu State complied with the material facts as stipulated by the electoral act and could not be assumed to have violated the act over the frivolity of Idoko's counting of needless pebbles.The fact is that even the primaries were conducted within the time frame, even if without precision,and that could not have vitiated the free and fair primaries observed and acclaimed by INEC as authentic, upon which it issued certificate of return to the PDP candidates.
The claim by the said Chukwudi Chime that Enugu State PDP had been making frantic efforts to compromise the judge handling the case is most reprehensible an accusation. These are the kinds of careless fictions characteristic of the discredited and desperate ambitions that people Labour Party in Enugu State. They feast on calumny and have nothing to offer the Enugu electorate as the reason why they should vote Labour instead of the PDP of which the Enugu electorate are enamoured.
Chime has no sense of decorum. Like the purported candidate of Labour Party in Enugu State, he too does not appreciate the weight of false accusation such as he hawked in his trite of a piece, accusing the PDP under Ugwuanyi's leadership of involving in "shameful business of deploying state resources to corrupt institutions of the law to do its bidding each time it found itself in a similar situation". This is a veiled blackmailing of the court by throwing allegation of compromise over a matter that has yet to be ruled upon. The fact is that Governor Ugwuanyi, a true democrat, had at no time interfered with the cause of justice. He had fought many legal battles and came out unscathed and victorious, having gone to equity with clean hands. Such victory had always confounded the simple who would come with phantom allegations against that which trumped and amazed them.
Labour Party in Enugu State is confused and that is why it points to the PDP as the cause of its woes in the state. Capt. Everast Nnaji and Chijioke Edeoga were governorship aspirants under the PDP, and both of them had left for Labour Party after Peter Mbah had trounced them to a resounding victory. The PDP has no hand in the governorship legal tussle between Nnaji and Edeoga. Why on earth should the PDP be interested in the political rodents grating at a relegated background? Was the PDP the one who asked Labour Party to collect money for forms from one candidate and then go ahead to exclude him in the primaries, and gave the ticket to the one who could not purchase the forms? It is no business of the PDP whatever obtains at the low from where the travesty of vile politicking obtains.
The fact is that the PDP in Enugu State is strong, united and deeply-rooted, as well as commands the love and absolute acceptance of the average Enugu citizen. The party that will upstage the PDP in the state would never have been formed. All the Idokos and 30-day frivolity constitute puerile attempts at uprooting the Iroko. It is impossible! The honourable court will in due course throw out the trifle seeking to waste its time.
Reuben Onyishi is the Director of Online Media, Enugu State PDP Campaign Organisation
