Anambra senate seat: PDP, APGA bicker

The Peoples Democratic Party in Anambra State on Saturday described a Federal High Court judgment, which declared Obiora Okonkwo as the winner of the Anambra Central Senatorial District seat, as edifying.

The state chairman of the party, Ndubuisi Nwobu, who stated this at a press briefing at the party’s secretariat, Udoka, Awka, called on all in the district to accept the judgment in good faith.

The Abuja court had on December 13 ordered that Okonkwo be sworn in as a senator to replace Uche Ekwunife, who was sacked by the Court of Appeal on the grounds of improper nomination.

But the All Progressives Grand Alliance has dismissed the court’s judgment as “inconsequential and dead on arrival.”

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The National Publicity Secretary of APGA, Ifeatu Obi-Okoye, in a statement. said the party was not bothered about the development, noting that the judgment of a High Court could not upturn that of the Court of Appeal.

He said the APGA had prepared for the January 13, 2018 senatorial rerun as ordered by the Court of Appeal, adding that the judgment of a High Court declaring the PDP winner of the seat was null and void.

Obi-Okoye, a lawyer, said, “The questions are: Can the High Court substitute Obiora Okonkwo for Uche Ekwunife in the face of the decision of the Court of Appeal and can the decision of the High Court upturn and overrule the subsisting judgment of the Court of Appeal?

“The only decision that can upturn that decision of the Court of Appeal is a decision of the Supreme Court. Hence,  Obiora Okonkwo cannot be sworn in as a senator of Anambra Central in the face of the judgment of the Court of Appeal, which is still subsisting.”Punch