Supreme Court Declares Margery Chuba-Okadigbo Anambra North Senator

... Removes Eseme Eyibo From The House Of Representatives

SAN FRANCISCO, July 06, (THEWILL) - The Supreme Court Friday declared the wife of late former Senate President Chuba Okadigbo, Lady Margery Chuba-Okadigbo the authentic candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the Anambra North Senatorial election and approved her as Senator-Elect for the District ahead of Senator Alphonsus Igbeke of the same PDP.

The justices of the court upheld the judgement of the Court of Appeal, which had earlier declared Chuba-Okadigbo winner of the April 16, 2011 election having faulted a High Court decision which had previously declared Igbeke the winner of the primary solely based on the documents submitted by the discredited politician while ignoring documentation from the leadership of the PDP and INEC. In a unanimous judgement delivered by Justice M.U. Muktar who led the 3-member panel of judges, the appellate court declared the primary conducted by Senator Joseph Waku as the legitimate one, which it said Lady Margery Chuba-Okadigbo won.

The contentious seat had been a subject of several litigations involving Senator Alphonsus Igbeke and Prince John Emeka, who at various times claimed they won the primary of the party.

Following the controversies surrounding the seat, the Senate had opted to leave it vacant until the highest court issued a final judgement on the authentic candidate of the PDP in the election.

The apex court in a separate ruling also removed Honourable Eseme Eyibo (PDP) as member of the House of Representatives representing Eket/Esit/Ibeno/Onna Federal Constituency and instead declared Barrister Bassey Dan-Abia (PDP) as the authentic Representative of the Constituency.