Oduah, Uba, Remain Elected – Supreme Court Declares

BEVERLY HILLS, February 24, (THEWILL) – The Supreme Court has declared that a judgment it gave on January 29 involving the chairmanship of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Anambra state had nothing to do with the status of Stella Oduah, Andy Uba and other lawmakers elected on the platform of the PDP in Anambra state as federal lawmakers.

INEC had filed a case at the apex court seeking clarification of the January 29 ruling of the court, which reinstated Ejike Oguebego as the chairman of PDP in Anambra state. ‪

The court held that it did not have the jurisdiction to review any judgment it had given and declined to interpret the judgement

“The judgement of this court is final as reflected in the 1999 constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria (as amended),” it stated.

“On the whole I hold the view that this court has no jurisdiction to entertain this motion from Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). This matter is hereby stuck out.”

‪The court explained that it only gave judgement on the case of leadership of the PDP in Anambra state, and not matters regarding the lawmakers' seats.

It clarified that the issue of primary elections regarding the emergence of the lawmakers as candidates of the PDP for the national assembly election was not included in the appeal brought before it. ‪

It added that it had ruled on many occasions that only the national executive of a party could send a list of candidates to INEC for an election, and thus, since INEC admitted that it was the national executive of the PDP that nominated the lawmakers, and not a caretaker committee, there was no contest over the matter.

Story by David Oputah