Abia Assembly, speaker refuse to inaugurate PDP member declared elected by Appeal Court

There is controversy in the Abia State House of Assembly over its failure to inaugurate an elected member, Aaron Uzodike.

Mr Uzodike contested in the 2023 general election for Abia North State Constituency, Abia State, South-east Nigeria, on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

But the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Destiny Nwangwu of the Labour Party (LP) election winner in the constituency.

Dissatisfied, Mr Uzodike challenged the victory of the LP candidate at the Court of Appeal in Lagos State.

The court, in its judgement on 27 November 2023, nullified the election of Mr Nwangwu and ordered the immediate withdrawal of the certificate of return earlier issued to the LP candidate.

It subsequently declared Mr Uzodike the winner of the exercise and ordered INEC to issue a fresh certificate of return to the PDP candidate.

The Court of Appeal is the highest court for adjudicating election matters concerning federal and state legislatures.

PREMIUM TIMES exclusively obtained a letter from INEC addressed to the clerk of the state’s House of the Assembly announcing the withdrawal of the certificate of return from the PDP candidate.

The letter, dated 13 December 2023 and signed by INEC secretary Rose Oriaran-Anthony, was received by the clerk of the House on 18 December of the same year.

Abia Assembly

Upon the inauguration of the Abia State Assembly on 14 June 2023, the PDP had the majority with 11 members. While the LP had ten members, the YPP had two members, and the APC had only one member.

However, the LP dropped to nine members after the Court of Appeal nullified Mr Nwangwu’s election, while the number of PDP seats in the House increased to 12.

The state governor, Alex Otti, is a member of the LP. He won the 18 March 2023 governorship election on the platform of the party.

‘Order from the above’

Mr Uzodike told PREMIUM TIMES on Tuesday that, on 14 December 2023, he submitted all the documents needed for his inauguration to the House of Assembly.

The documents which he submitted include the certificate of return issued to him by INEC, the certified true copy of the court judgement that declared him the winner of the election and the INEC’s letter notifying the clerk of the House of the withdrawal of Mr Nwangwu’s certificate of return.

The politician said that after submitting the documents, the speaker of the House, Emmanuel Emeruwa, scheduled his inauguration for 18 January but later sent a message to him on the same day that it would not hold any longer.

“When I visited his office to know why it could not hold, he (Emeruwa) said there was an order from above. But he didn’t mention the person or authority that gave the order,” he said.

He added that, on 16 April, he visited the assembly chambers after the House reconvened following Easter break and presented himself for the inauguration.

He said, again, the speaker did not allow him to make a presentation or inaugurate him.

“Since then till now, I have not been inaugurated,” he said.

Court order against inauguration?

In an open letter to the speaker in March this year, a member of the PDP in Abia State and former Commissioner for Information in the state, John Kalu, accused Mr Emeruwa of illegally anchoring his decision not to inaugurate Mr Uzodike on a High Court order that ran contrary to the superior and final decision of the Court of Appeal.

Mr Kalu, in the open letter, said Mr Emeruwa ought to know that the “Appeal Court is not only superior court to a state High Court but also the final arbiter in the litigation of electoral matters” involving the legislative arm of government.

“As a result of the refusal of the Speaker Emeruwa to inaugurate Hon Aaron Uzodike, Aba North State Constituency, where I ordinarily reside, does not have any representative at the Abia State House of Assembly, thereby denying the people the right to be heard and appropriately rewarded with dividends of democracy,” he said.

‘I don’t want to talk about this now.’

The Speaker of the Abia State House of Assembly, Mr Emeruwa, declined to speak when contacted on Tuesday for comments.

Mr Emeruwa answered the PREMIUM TIMES reporter’s call, but the reporter was still presenting the matter when the speaker interrupted him.

“I don’t want to talk about this now,” he retorted.

Asked when he would be willing to talk about the matter, Mr Emeruwa requested to see the reporter in his office.

The speaker was consequently informed that the reporter was not within the state and that he could comment over the phone. But he still declined comments on the matter.

“Just go to the Federal High Court of Appeal, Abuja. Look for the Lookement of 27 February 2024. That will give you the information,” he said and quickly ended the call.

There is no court in Nigeria known as the “Federal High Court of Appeal” that Mr Uzodike referred our reporter to.