Supreme Court has settled Ebonyi PDP governorship candidacy – State Chairman

Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ebonyi State, Mr. Silas Joseph Onu, has said that the issue of who the governorship candidate of the party in the state is has been laid to rest by the Supreme Court, saying “any judgement obtained from the lower court on a matter already determined by the Supreme Court is like a tissue paper.”

Onu said in a statement: “On September 14, 2022, a five-member panel of the Supreme Court, led by Justice Amina Augie unanimously declared Ifeanyi Odii as the authentic governorship candidate of the PDP in Ebonyi State for next year’s election. That’s the final bus stop as per litigation on who our party’s governorship candidate in Ebonyi State is.”

He described a claim by Mr. Tochukwu Okorie that he was the Chairman of PDP in Ebonyi State as not only spurious but also prejudicial, adding that “I wouldn’t ordinarily join issues with him as the substratum of this entire episode is before the Supreme Court for determination.”

The chairman, who said “no amount of shenanigans can unsettle what the Supreme Court had already settled concerning Odii’s candidacy”, added that “Okorie was only trying to wake a dead horse by going to a Federal High Court to secure a black market judgement on the state chairmanship so as to use that as another ground to give life to the governorship primary matter, which has been laid to rest by the Supreme Court.”

He pointed out that in the judgment delivered on December 7, 2022, it was admitted that the case was an offshoot from the judgment of A.R Muhammed, a justice of the Federal High Court with coordinate jurisdiction as the one that delivered the judgment.

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“Was it an appeal? In that judgment, it was also very clear that the actions being invalidated were the actions of the PDP, not those of Silas Joseph Onu as contained in their prayers – Silas Joseph Onu never conducted any election and if Tochukwu understands how political parties are managed, he won’t be doing this. The judgment was clear that the actions of the 2nd Defendant were being cancelled, not mine – very distinct from their prayers. I wonder if the judgment is saying that PDP cannot hold primary election because Mr. Tochukwu is fighting to be a state chairman. Without a state chairman, PDP can hold its primary elections and no court can stop that as provided in the Electoral Act, 2022,” Onu said.

Speaking further, the PDP chairman said: “He (Okorie) claimed that his action was independent of what is at the Supreme Court. This is patently false. The case where he obtained an unenforceable ‘stay of execution’ is the same case at the Supreme Court. So, how can he attempt to invalidate actions that can be affirmed by the Supreme Court?”

He said: “Like I earlier stated, the Supreme Court has the final say on who is the Chairman of PDP Ebonyi State. The hearing of the appeal by the Court of Appeal is being challenged because PDP withdrew from the appeal and was not a party at the time the Court of Appeal went on to hear the appeal. Little wonder why the Supreme Court was asking on day one if they had jurisdiction to hear the appeal. Every lawyer worth his/her name knows that without the political party in a political case, the Court will not have jurisdiction. So, let’s wait and get the final decision before attempts to cancel or invalidate actions will commence.”