The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has told the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, not to tamper with the nomination of Mr. Tony Nwoye as its candidate in the November 16 governorship election in Anambra State.
The PDP said this in a letter written to the electoral commission at the weekend by its counsel, Joe-Kyari Gadzama (SAN), alerting INEC about media reports that Senator Andy Uba had been affirmed by the courts as the party's candidate for the election.
Gadzama averred that the judgement of the court, which ordered for the maintenance of the status quo in the suit challenging the legitimacy of the Anambra State PDP executive, did not in any way infer that the nomination of Nwoye through the primary conducted by the party's National Executive Committee, NEC, should be upturned.
The PDP counsel noted that the conduct of primary elections was the exclusive function of the NEC of political parties as stipulated by Section 87 of the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended) and therefore a change of leadership, even if enforced on the party, cannot alter the job procedurally done by the NEC, which produced Nwoye as the party's candidate.
The party appealed to Jega to maintain the integrity of INEC under his leadership, saying: "Sadly, this order of court, most especially, the third paragraph which states that the 1st and 2nd Defendants (the Peoples Democratic Party, and the Independent National Electoral Commission) should recognise and deal with the 1st Plaintiff (Ejike Ogbuebego) in all matters in Anambra State has been badly misconstrued and the position of the court deliberately and mischievously misrepresented.
"Some media houses even reported that the court had upheld Uba's nomination as the PDP candidate in the Anambra State governorship election, when nothing of the sort transpired in court."
PDP added: "The court order does not in any way relate to the nomination and election of Hon. Nwoye as the gubernatorial candidate of the PDP in Anambra State, (which nomination and selection has not been invalidated or nullified by any court in Nigeria), rather it is with respect to who is the state chairman of the PDP in the state. The issue of who is the valid gubernatorial candidate of the PDP in Anambra State does not in any way concern the state chairman of the party in Anambra State; rather it is a function of the NEC."
Gadzama made copious references to judicial pronouncements which he said were in tandem with Section 87 (1)(4)(b)(i) of the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended), and which he said "confirmed that only the NEC of the party has the power to conduct primaries for governorship elections in Nigeria."
He added: "Therefore, the fact that the court directed the party to recognise Ejike Oguebego and work with him in respect of its affairs in Anambra State does not translate to the recognition of Uba, who never participated in the primaries organised by the NEC of the party.
"Uba cannot therefore by any form of ingenuity become the Anambra State PDP gubernatorial candidate, when he was never an aspirant along with several others at the primary election that was transmitted by media houses in Nigeria and watched both nationally and globally."
While urging INEC to tow the path of legality and accept the nomination form of Hon. Nwoye, who is the gubernatorial candidate of the PDP in Anambra State, having won the primaries of August 24, organised by the only appropriate organ of the party that has the constitutional and statutory powers to do so, to the exclusion of all other organs, Gadzama said that such recognition is necessary to ensure that the polity is not unduly overheated as INEC's silence on the issue has led to misconceptions, most notably the recent report by media houses that Uba had been declared the Anambra State gubernatorial candidate by the Federal High Court.
He reminded INEC "that its constitutional and statutory mandate requires it to be dispassionate, objective and neutral between or among political parties' candidates."
