Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja
The United Abia Artistes and Patriots (UAAP) has described last week’s judgement of the Federal High Court in Kano as part of the grand plan of the political cabal in the state to truncate the mandate the Abia electorate freely gave to the Governor-elect, Dr. Alex Otti.
The Federal High Court in Kano had on Thursday declared that votes Otti polled in the Abia State governorship election were wasted
But, addressing a press conference yesterday in Abuja, the Convener of the group, Chuks Akamadu, said although the court has made clarifications that it did not nullify the election of Otti as clearly stated in the court judgement papers, notable legal luminaries have equally faulted the decision, stating that the matter itself was statute barred because it was a pre-election matter.
According to the group, this explains why the Kano judgement is a joke taken too far. Truth is that given the mood of Abians, the time is hardly auspicious for such jokes.
Akamadu said at the moment, some workers are being owed 35 months’ salary arrears; pensioners are owed over 40 months; while gratuity was now a forgotten benefit for retiring workers; doctors are on strike; the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) is on strike; Judiciary workers are on strike; while some academic institutions have lost accreditations.
He noted that Abia state was literally on life-support.
The group added: “Painfully, in this same regrettable state Abia has found itself, government appointees are building houses and hotels with Julius Berger as the contractor, they are acquiring new fleets of vehicles, buying landed property in choice areas in the state, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Enugu and Lagos State, traveling abroad as if they are moving from Umuahia to Aba, traveling for medical trips overseas, sending their kids to study abroad. In fact, they live like emperors whilst the masses dwell in squalor.”
The group stressed that to sustain this lifestyle means they must keep the people in perpetual poverty.
Against this background, the group said the last gubernatorial election in the State was a battle between a “political criminal cabal” that has impoverished the people and Abians themselves.
It emphasised that this was a fierce battle Otti had been fighting for the past eight years, adding that this time around the people stood their ground.
It stressed that it was for this reason Abians christened 18 March, 2023 as Abia State’s “Independence Day”.
It stated: “The day Abians defeated the political criminal cabal that had held the people hostage, hijacked our commonwealth and impoverished the masses.
“For the avoidance of doubt, Abians believe that Kano ruling is a little part of the grand plan of the same cabal to truncate the mandate the Abia electorate freely gave their Governor-Elect, Dr. Otti or create enough distraction for him through the judiciary.”
The group clarified that the Kano Court neither issued an order on Abia Labour Party candidates nor Otti because unlike those who brought the suit to steal the Abia peoples’ mandate, the court was somewhat conscious of its powers and artfully played around the booby trap set for it by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Abia state government.
It pointed out that the Federal High Court in Abia had entertained similar cases as pre-election matters involving some PDP candidates versus LP candidates, saying the matters were litigated up to the Supreme Court, adding that in all the cases, Labour Party won at the Federal High Court, Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court respectively.
The group explained that the case brought by the petitioners was a pre-election matter, adding that under Section 285(14)(a) of the Electoral Act, the petitioner had no locus standi as he was not an aspirant in LP.
It noted: “Even so, Section 285 (9), requires that such pre-election matter must be filed within 14 days of the occurrence of the event. In other words, the suit should have been filed before the end of June last year. On the contrary, this suit was filed on May 11, 2023 and a week later, the “Guinness Book of Records Breaker” Judge delivered judgement. We do hope that the National Judicial Council (NJC) is alive to its responsibilities, because the whole world is watching with keen interest.
“For purposes of further elucidation, Dr. Alex Otti became the Governorship Candidate of Labour Party on 09 June 2022, then any pre-election litigation questioning his candidacy must have been commenced not later than 14 days from 09 June 2022— meaning the case must be filed not later than 23 June 2022.
“On the issue of whether or not the Labour Party submitted its Members’ Register 30 days before it held its primary election that produced the candidates for the general election in accordance with Section 77(3) of the Electoral Act of 2022 (as amended), there is no penalty contained in the Act for non-compliance. Even more primarily, the Electoral Act neither expressly nor impliedly calls non-compliance with Section 77(3) an offence; and logically, where there is no offence, there couldn’t possibly be a penalty.’
The group said it was, therefore, clear that this whole thing was a storm in a tea cup and should not be given a life it does not have or an exaggerated image at the expense of peace in the State.
