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Tag: Chike Obidigbo

  • APGA nominated Obiano, Umeh tells tribunal

    APGA nominated Obiano, Umeh tells tribunal

    Anambra State Elections Petitions Tribunal in Awka, yesterday, was told that the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) nominated Governor Willie Obiano and not Dr Chike Obidigbo for the November 16 election.

    Chief Victor Umeh, national chairman of the party testified yesterday that Obiano’s name and his deputy’s, Dr Nkem Okeke, were submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) .

    He said he signed the forms as chairman of the party, with Alhaji Abdulahi Shinkafi as national secretary.

    Umeh was cross examined by counsel to Obidigbo, Maduabuchi Oba, in the suit by Obidigbo challenging the nomination of Obiano.

    He told the tribunal that INEC monitired the primary conducted by APGA , adding that any other leadership not recognised by INEC, which produced a candidate, was not valid.

    “I was the validly elected national chairman of APGA and recognised by INEC at the time the nomination took place.”

    “I was not a party in the suit that said Chief Maxi Okwu was the validly elected chairman of APGA. Prior to that judgment, there was one from theAppeal Court, which stayed execution of an Enugu High Court judgment removing me and my executive.”

    “We filed a stay of execution, and on April 8, 2013, the Court of Appeal at Enugu granted a stay of execution and that was the day Maxi Okwu was purported to have emerged as the national chairman.”

    Umeh has threatened to write a petition against Justice Abdul Kafarati of the Federal High Court, Abuja, to the National judicial council (NJC).

    He said yesterday that judicial impertinence was the problem in Nigeria, adding that his members would petition NJC about Kafarati.

    The national chairman said his stay of execution was neither dismissed nor thrown out.

     

  • APGA picked Obiano, not Obidigbo, says Umeh

    APGA picked Obiano, not Obidigbo, says Umeh

    Anambra State Elections Petitions Tribunal in Awka, yesterday was told that the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) nominated Governor Willie Obiano and not Dr Chike Obidigbo for the November 16 election.

    Chief Victor Umeh, factional national chairman of the party testified yesterday that Obiano’s name was submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) with that of his deputy, Dr Nkem Okeke.

    He said he signed the forms as chairman of the party, with Alhaji Abdulahi Shinkafi as national secretary.

    Umeh was being cross examined by counsel to Obidigbo, Maduabuchi Oba in the case by Obidigbo challenging the nomination of Obiano by the party.

    He told the tribunal that the primary conducted by APGA was monitored by INEC, adding that any other leadership not recognised by INEC, which produced a candidate, was not valid.

    “I was the validly elected national chairman of APGA and recognised by INEC at the time the nomination of the party’s candidate took place.”

    “I was not a party in the suit that said Chief Maxi Okwu was validly elected chairman of APGA. Prior to that judgment, there was a judgment of the Appeal Court staying execution in the judgment of the Enugu High Court, which removed me and my executive as officers of APGA.”

    “We filed a stay of execution and on April 8, 2013, the Court of Appeal at Enugu granted a stay of execution and that was the day Maxi Okwu was purported to have emerged as the national chairman and his colleagues.”

    Umeh has threatened to take Justice Abdul Kafarati of the Federal High Court, Abuja, before the National judicial council (NJC).

    He said yesterday that judicial impertinence was the problem in Nigeria, adding that his members would petition Kafarati to NJC.

    The factional national chairman said his stay of execution was neither dismissed nor thrown out as being speculated, adding that what happened was that the lower court lacked jurisdiction to hear it.

     

     

  • Tribunal dismisses Obidigbo’s petition

    Tribunal dismisses Obidigbo’s petition

    •Strikes out major paragraphs in Nwoye’s petition The Anambra State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal in Awka has dismissed a petition filed by Dr. Chike Obidigbo, claiming to be the authentic candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), in the November 16, 2013 governorship election. It described him as a stranger in the petition. Obidigbo filed a petition against Chief Willie Obiano, APGA’s candidate in the poll. He also sought to be joined in the petitions by the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Senator Chris Ngige and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Comrade Tony Nwoye. The ruling on the application was reserved for yesterday by the three-man tribunal led by Justice Ishaq Bello. In the ruling, which lasted over one hour, Justice Bello said Obidigbo could not be joined in the petition in the spirit of the Electoral Act. He said it was the tribunal’s view that the applicant was not known to be a party in the election and could not be joined in the petition. According to him, “the law does not provide for a ceremonial respondent in an election petition, as a party must be connected with the election. The applicant has a mistaken belief that he has a case. “The applicant is not found anywhere in the body of the petition. Continuing with the application will amount to dragging the tribunal into an intra-party dispute in which the tribunal has no jurisdiction.” The tribunal also ruled on the application by the counsel to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), brought to it by Ahmed Raji (SAN), for some paragraphs in the petition filed by the PDP candidate to be struck out on the grounds that they were irrelevant to the main petition. Among the paragraphs were the alleged multiple registrations by Obiano and non-qualification due to the alleged multiple registrations. There were also the allegation against security operatives and APGA officials accused of facilitating the victory of APGA and the allegation of criminality against some unnamed persons. In the ruling read by Justice Akintola Akinniyi, the tribunal observed that while it was not proper to strike out all the paragraphs as demanded by INEC’s counsel, there were some pre- election matters, which had no reason to remain in the petition. He said: “Even if the allegation of multiple registrations was proved, it was not one of the bases for the qualification of a candidate to stand for an election. “Double or multiple registrations is a criminal offence and there is no proof that Obiano has been sued and anybody, who has a case against him on that should file a case in court, which has to issue an order against him.” The tribunal ruled that the allegation of supplying false information to INEC was not enough to disqualify a candidate, saying there must be a court order disqualifying the candidate, which was not the case in the matter at hand. The tribunal said the Electoral Act, as amended, stipulated that it was the court that could entertain such a matter and that should have been done before the election was held. Justice Akinniyi also said the failure of the petitioner to name the agents accused of working for INEC, did a fatal blow to the petition.

  • Tribunal: APGA stifles process with 500 witnesses

    Tribunal: APGA stifles process with 500 witnesses

    •16 SANs appear

    •PDP presents 126 witnesses, APC 100

    The pre-hearing of the Anambra State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal began yesterday in Awka, with 16 Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) appearing.

    But the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) may be stifling the process by calling 500 witnesses.

    Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is calling 126 witnesses, while the All Progressives Congress (APC) has 100.

    The parties are challenging the declaration of Chief Willie Obiano of APGA as winner of the November 16 poll by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

    At the resumed hearing, four petitions challenging were mentioned; Dr. Chike Obidigbo’s against Obiano and two others; Senator Chris Ngige against INEC, Obiano, APGA and Advanced Congress of Democrats (ACD); PDP versus INEC and 25 others; and Tony Nwoye versus INEC and 25 others.

    Ngige’s lead counsel Mr. Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN) said the petitioners withdrew the petition against ACD.

    “We have also filed a motion, asking the tribunal to direct preliminary points of law or objection to be taken with the final addresses of parties,” he said.

    Other SANs, who appeared at the tribunal and raised motions, were Patrick Ikwueto, representing APGA and Osita Nnadi.

    Others are Mr. Adegboyega Awomolo, Arthur Obi-Okafor for INEC, while Mr. Onyechi Ikpeazu appeared for Obiano.

    Akeredolu and Chief Emeka Ngige (SAN) appeared for APC, while Prof. F.C. Dike represented Dr. Chike Obidgbo, who is contesting the APGA ticket with Obiano.

    Chief A. O. Ajana (SAN) was for PDP, while Mr. Emmanuel Ukala (SAN) represented Mr. Tony Nwoye with D.C. De Nwigwe (SAN) and Ikechukwu Ezechukwu (SAN).

    Justice Ishaq Bello said with the number of lawyers, there should be a radical approach to the cases.

    He said the tribunal would allow more processes to be filed, while the possibility of consolidating motions would be looked into, to allow expeditious proceedings.

    One of Senator Ngige’s lawyers, Chief Ngige, said he was worried about the number of witnesses called by APGA, adding that it was a delay tactic, considering that the tribunal had 136 days to sit.

    After listening to the lawyers, Justice Bello adjourned proceedings till February 11.