PDP violated no court order on Ugwuanyi: Lawyer

An Abuja-based legal practitioner and chieftain of the Enugu State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Onwurah Aniagboso, has dismissed a media report accusing the PDP of violating a purported court order restraining it from recognising Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi as the party’s governorship candidate in Enugu State. This was even as a former Deputy Speaker of the Enugu State House of Assembly, Hon. Ogbo Asogwa, has criticised Senator Ayogu Eze and some other PDP governorship aspirants, including Prof. Onyeke O. Onyeke and Dr Sam Onyishi for “not deeming it fit to join the Enugu PDP family to receive President Goodluck Jonathan during the recent presidential rally in Enugu”. Fielding questions from reporters on Thursday, Chief Aniagboso, who said the PDP had addressed the matter extensively before now, explained that “there was no such order”. According to him, the PDP remained a law-abiding party and “could not have disobeyed an order that is inexistent in the first place”. “Yes, there are two pending cases on the Enugu PDP governorship primary before Justice S.E Chukwu of the Federal High Court, Abuja. One was filed by Sen. Ayogu Eze against the PDP, but Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi’s Counsel, P.I.N Ikwueto (SAN) applied and Ugwanyi was joined in the suite, while another case is Dr. Samuel Onyishi V. PDP”, he said. He explained that although it was true that Senator Ayogu Eze had initially asked for an ex-parte order to restrain the PDP from submitting Hon. Ugwuanyi’s name to INEC as Enugu PDP governorship candidate, the court turned down the prayer and instead demanded that the PDP and INEC be put on notice. Chief Aniagboso said he was aware that the PDP’s counsel, Dr. Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN), filed a preliminary objection on resumption of the case on the 18th of December, contesting the court had no jurisdiction to hear the case, which had been adjourned to January 14, 2015. The case was not heard due to the industrial action embarked upon by the judicial workers union. He added: “I am also aware that the court did not grant any prayer by Dr. Onyishi’s counsel, Chief Chris Uche (SAN) seeking to restrain the PDP from submitting Hon. Ugwuanyi’s name to the INEC or restraining INEC from accepting Ugwuanyi as Enugu PDP governorship candidate. “Unless a prayer for an order of injunction is granted, you cannot call it an order yet; hence I see nothing in law, which bars the PDP from presenting its flag to Hon. Ugwuanyi as its bonafide candidate in the February 28 election or the INEC from treating him as PDP’s candidate”. Although he said he would not want to comment in depth on the matter since it was already in court, the PDP chieftain, however, observed that going by the Supreme Court ruling on Senator Yakubu Lado V. CPC, which leaves political parties at liberty to decide which is an authentic primary election where parallel primaries occur, coupled with the failure of the two litigants to participate in the primary election, he was convinced Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi was “home and dry”. Meanwhile, former Deputy Speaker of the Enugu State House of Assembly has described as “unbecoming and total disregard for the party and Office of the President the failure of Senator Ayogu Eze and a few other governorship aspirants to show up at the presidential rally in Enugu last weekend”. “If they had joined the rest in receiving Mr. President and other national leaders of our party, then nobody would have had time planting falsehood in the media against the party”, he asserted.