Aloysius Igwe, a House of Representatives aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Imo State, has sued the PDP and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over alleged substitution of his name as the elected candidate of his constituency.
Mr Igwe said he contested and won the party primary for Oru East-Orsu-Orlu Federal Constituency in the state, but a fresh primary was held where Kinglsey Onyegbula, another.
The PDP held its House of Representatives primary in the constituency between 25th and 26th of May, where five aspirants contested for the ticket.
In the exercise, monitored by INEC, Mr Igwe polled a total of 39 votes to defeat his closest rival, Kingsley Onyegbula, who garnered 36 votes, according to the result of the exercise seen by correspondent.
“The primary election was duly monitored by INEC from the state office and INEC headquarters Abuja. The party substantially complied with the relevant laws and guidelines guiding the conduct of primaries,” V.O. Nwokeabia said in a letter to INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state, Francis Ezeonu.
Mr Nwokeabia, who is the head, Election and Party Monitoring Department of INEC in Imo State, attached the results of the party primaries in the letter, dated 27 May.
“From the accreditation of delegates to the conduct of the election, there was transparency and openness and there was no protest or objection of any kind after the declaration of the results at the venue,” Mr Nwokeabia, a lawyer, said in the letter.
Despite separately affirming Mr Igwe as the winner of the primary, the PDP and INEC failed to recognise him as a candidate.
Earlier, on 3 June, there was speculation about a plot by a top PDP leader to assist one of the contestants who lost in the exercise, Mr Onyegbula, to organise a fresh primary to overturn the outcome of the previous exercise.
Disturbed by the speculation, Mr Igwe wrote to the REC, Mr Ezeonu, informing him that if there was such a move, he (Mr Igwe) would not take part in the “kangaroo exercise”.
He did not receive any response.
On 5 June, just as it was speculated, another PDP primary for the same Oru East-Orsu-Orlu Federal Constituency was held. Mr Igwe was not informed, PREMIUM TIMES learnt.
Mr Onyegbula was said to have been declared winner of the fresh primary.
Perspective from another aspirant
Augustine Okeke, one of the aspirants who contested in the first primary, told PREMIUM TIMES that he congratulated Mr Igwe for winning the exercise, but later heard that the primary was cancelled some days after.
“I congratulated the winner in that exercise and acknowledged that, according to what I observed, the election was a free process,” he said, adding that he did not know the reason for the cancellation.
Mr Okeke said he withdrew from the rescheduled primary for “personal reasons.”
The man who won the first primary, Mr Igwe, is shocked by the turn of events.
“I was believing that you cannot give INEC information to come witness or monitor an election on Sunday, after it was concluded successfully and a winner declared,” he told PREMIUM TIMES.
Petition to the PDP
Although Mr Onyegbula did not protest the outcome of the 26 May exercise that produced Mr Igwe as the party’s candidate, he later filed a petition at the PDP’s Imo State National Assembly Electoral Appeal Panel.
A report of the petition, seen by PREMIUM TIMES, showed that Mr Onyegbula alleged, among others, that some of the voters in the exercise were statutory delegates, contrary to the party’s guidelines and 2022 Electoral Act.
The three-man electoral appeal panel, however, noted that the petitioner, Mr Onyegbula, did not attach any evidence to the petition and that there was no proof that a different delegate list was used in the exercise.
The appeal panel did not invite Mr Igwe during its sittings which were held at the party’s secretariat in the state.
Mr Igwe’s name was eventually not submitted by the PDP to INEC, despite winning the previous primary.
INEC spokesperson, Festus Okoye, did not respond to calls and messages seeking comments from him on the matter.
After the second primary, Mr Igwe, through his lawyers, wrote to INEC headquarters, Abuja, and the PDP national leadership, alerting them of an attempt to deny him the ticket of the party.
The PDP and INEC did not respond to his letter.
Mr Igwe sued the electoral commission and the PDP at the Federal High Court, Owerri, after Mr Onyegbula’s name was published as the party’s candidate for the constituency.
Mr Igwe is asking the court to declare as illegal the conduct of the second primary by the PDP.
He is also seeking that his election as the party’s candidate be declared valid and subsisting, and that INEC should be restrained from recognising Mr Onyegbula or any other person as party’s candidate for the constituency.
When the matter came up on 20 June, the court granted Mr Igwe’s application that Mr Onyegbula should be joined in the suit as a co-defendant and adjourned the matter to 17 August.
Mr Onyegbula did not respond to calls and a text message seeking comment from him.
The chairman of the PDP in Imo State, Charles Ugwu, told PREMIUM TIMES that primaries of the party had held more than once in some areas in the state due to some “challenges”, and that the issue was that Mr Igwe did not participate in the rerun which held in his own constituency.
Mr Ugwu declined to comment on Mr Igwe’s claim that he won the previous exercise and the circumstances surrounding the cancellation of his election.
Asked why Mr Igwe was not notified about the rescheduled exercise, the party chairman said, “I don’t know about that. Everybody was informed. He did not talk to me about that. (If he thinks so) then, he has to make his case.”
When contacted, the National Secretary of the PDP, Samuel Anyanwu, whose office is responsible for forwarding candidate’s name to INEC, admitted that Mr Igwe won in the first primary.
But he said the exercise was later cancelled after the party’s appeal panel considered a petition filed by one of the aspirants.
Aside from the constituency, the party’s primary in Ahiazu/Mbaise/Ezinihitte Constituency was also cancelled for similar reasons, he said.
On Mr Igwe’s claim that he was not informed of the cancellation and rescheduling of the exercise, Mr Anyanwu said, “the party in Imo State was duly informed and the primary was conducted before everybody. The candidates were duly informed.”
The PDP secretary said the second exercise was also monitored by INEC.
He dismissed the claims that the commission was given a short notice for the exercise, arguing that the commission would have rejected the candidate’s name forwarded to them if there were infractions in the second exercise.
He declined comments on whether Mr Igwe was informed that there was a petition against his election.
He also refused to respond to allegations that Mr Igwe was not invited by the party’s appeal panel to defend his election.
He said he was not the right person to provide the answers.
Credit: Premium Times
