Court annuls Soludo`s nomination…as he parades govt house

An Abuja High yesterday set aside the nomination of Professor Charles Soludo and Senator Emmanuel Anosike as the Peoples Democratic Party's flag-bearer and running mate respectively for the February 10 Anambra State gubernatorial election.

Mr. Valentine Ozigbo, one of the candidates in the botched PDP primaries had approached the court to complain that the selection of Soludo and Anosike was an abuse of an Anambra State High order, which had earlier placed an injunction on the selection process.

But in a swift reaction, the counsel representing Soludo, Mr. Patrick Ikwueto (SAN) dismissed the propriety of Mr. Ozigbo to go to court, stating that under the PDP constitution, the National Executive Committee of the party has the final say on the selection of candidates.

He stated that the power and rights of the PDP to select a candidate are unquestionable and that the court has been misled into thinking that Soludo and Anosike emerged from a congressional meeting of the party.

“That wasn't the case. The party obeyed the court order barring it from holding a congress. But that does not stop the party from selecting a candidate through other means,” Ikwueto explained.

In his suit at the Abuja High Court, Ozigbo argued that the Ekwulobia High Court (Anambra) injunction was not vacated before Soludo and Anosike were selected by the PDP leadership.

In his judgement, Justice Danlami Senchai set aside Soludo and Anosike's selection and ordered that they should not be recognised by INEC.

Reacting, the National Legal Adviser of the PDP, Olusola Oke said the party was caught unawares by the ruling because it was not joined as a party in the suit.

Oke said the party will do everything possible to vacate the order or have it over-turned in a higher court.

Similarly, Ikwueto added that his client was never served and is uncertain if an ex-parte motion was granted by the Abuja High Court or not.

Meanwhile, Professor Charles Soludo received the embarassing news while visiting Governor Ikedi Ohakim of Imo state yesterday in Owerri. The former apex bank boss had visited the Delta state Governor, Chief Emmanuel Uduaghan, the day before visiting Owerri.

It is believed that either Chief Soludo already considers himself as a Governor-elect merely visiting his colleagues or he is desperately mobilizing support from the PDP seating Governors' to intimidate his political rivals ion Anambra state.

No one can ignore the clout of the serving PDP governors in Nigeria especially in the current dispensation where they are currently being used as umpires and active participants in the execution of the Anambra governorship election.

Much as the news from the Abuja court rankled Soludo, sources close to him maintain that there is no cause for alarm as the Professor is in the good book of all the people that matter in the PDP and his candidacy is as sure as day.

"I don't know how they usually do it but one thing I know is that once you are in their good book, one way or the other, they will swing it in your favour," the sourceoffered.

It would be recalled that Soludo assumed the status of a card-carrying PDP member about two years ago in contravention of the provisions of the Bank and Other Financial Institutions Act (BOFIA).

Consequently, it would be nothing new to see Soludo circumventing electoral guidelines to get to his set political objectives.For our Machiavellian ex-banker, the means do not matter,for only the ends count