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The Abia House of Assembly and its Speaker, Emmanuel Emeruwa, have refused to swear into office, Aaron Uzodike, a lawmaker declared elected by an appeal court.
Inaugurated on June 14, 2023, the Assembly turned one year old on Friday.
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As a step
Uzodike contested the 2023 general election for Abia North State Constituency, Abia State, South East Nigeria, on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
But the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Destiny Nwangwu of the Labor Party (LP) the winner in the constituency.
Dissatisfied, Uzodike challenged the victory of the LP candidate before the Lagos State Court of Appeal.
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The court, in its ruling dated November 27, 2023, annulled the election of Mr. Nwangwu and ordered the immediate withdrawal of the certificate of return previously issued to the LP candidate.
He later declared Mr. Uzodike the winner of the exercise and ordered INEC to issue a new certificate of return to the PDP candidate.
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The Court of Appeals is the highest court for resolving disputes over elections to federal and state legislatures.
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PREMIUM TIMES exclusively obtained a letter sent by INEC to the secretary of the state House of Assembly announcing the withdrawal of the return certificate of the Labor Party candidate.
The letter, dated December 13, 2023 and signed by INEC Secretary Rose Oriaran-Anthony, was received by the House Clerk on December 18 of the same year.
Following the inauguration of the Abia State House of Assembly last year, the PDP had the majority with 11 members. While the LP had ten members, the YPP had two members and the APC had only one member.
However, the LP was reduced to nine members after the Court of Appeal annulled Mr Nwangwu’s election, while the PDP’s number of seats in the House increased to 12.
In May, the two YPP legislators defected to the LP to increase the seats to 11.
The state’s governor, Alex Otti, is a member of the LP. He won the March 18, 2023 gubernatorial election on the party’s platform.
The Speaker of the House of Assembly, Mr Emeruwa, is also a member of the LP. The president has the responsibility of ensuring the inauguration of the PDP candidate in accordance with the Court of Appeals ruling.
Aaron Uzodike
‘Order from above’
Uzodike told PREMIUM TIMES in April that on December 14, 2023, he submitted all the necessary documents for his inauguration to the House of Assembly.
The documents he presented include the certificate of return issued to him by INEC, the certified true copy of the court ruling that declared him the winner of the elections and the letter from INEC notifying the secretary of the House of the withdrawal of Mr.’s certificate of return. Nwangwu. return.
The politician stated that after presenting the documents, the Speaker of the House, Mr. Emeruwa, set his inauguration for January 18, but that same day he sent him a message saying that it would not take place again.
“When I visited his office to find out why he couldn’t hold on, he (Emeruwa) said there was an order from above. But he did not mention the person or authority who gave the order,” he had said.
He added that on April 16, he visited the assembly hall after the House met again after the Easter holidays and showed up for the inauguration.
He said, again, that the speaker did not allow him to make a presentation or take office.
“From then until now, I have not been inaugurated,” he said.
‘I don’t want to talk about this now’
The Speaker of the Abia House of Assembly, Mr Emeruwa, declined to speak when contacted in April for comment.
Mr Emeruwa responded to the PREMIUM TIMES reporter’s call, but the reporter was still presenting the matter when the speaker interrupted him.
“I don’t want to talk about this now,” he replied.
“Just go to the Federal High Court of Appeal in Abuja. Look for the ruling of February 27, 2024. You will have the information there,” he said and immediately cut the call.
How political parties were represented in the Abia Assembly
No inauguration a year later
Uzodike told PREMIUM TIMES on Monday night that he had not yet been sworn in as a member of the assembly and no date had been set for that purpose.
The politician, however, said he learned that Mr Emeruwa promised to adopt a political solution for him (Uzodike) to take office.
‘The court did not order me to take office’
Earlier, while interacting with newsmen on Thursday in Umuahia, Emeruwa admitted that the Lagos Court of Appeal declared Mr Uzodike the winner and ordered INEC to issue him a certificate of return.
The spokesperson, however, stated that “a Federal High Court of Appeal in Abuja” later interpreted the certified true copy of the Lagos Court of Appeal and stated that the court ruling did not require the lawmaker to be sworn in.
PREMIUM TIMES obtained a video clip showing the speaker making the comments.
“Now the court had to interpret the certified true copy that he (Uzodike) had and the court stated that the Court (Lagos of Appeal) gave judgment to him, declared him winner and also ordered INEC to give him a certificate of return. But (the court) did not order the president or anyone else to swear him in,” he stated.
“That was the trial that day. You can also go and make inquiries at the Federal High Court of Appeal in Abuja,” Mr. Emeruwa added.
In Nigeria there is no court known as “Federal High Court of Appeal” to which Mr. Emeruwa referred.
Emmanuel Emeruwa, the spokesperson (PHOTO-Facebook page)
“It’s wildly and atrociously ridiculous.”
In his reaction, a former commissioner of information in the state, John Kalu, said Emereuwa’s claim that he did not have the court order to take possession of Uzodike sounded “wild and outrageously ridiculous”.
Kalu, in a Facebook post on Friday, reminded the speaker that the primary document required to take over a legislator is the INEC return certificate and not a certified true copy of a court order.
The former commissioner argued that the court had concluded its function by ordering INEC to issue the return certificate considering that the position of rapporteur was not attached to the claim.
“The day you were accepted as a member of the Abia State House of Assembly, it was the same INEC return certificate that made the secretary accept you,” he told Mr Emereuwa.
“As a public official, you are normally expected to perform certain duties, so you do not need any express court order to perform them. One of those duties is to declare whoever INEC issues a return certificate as a member of the house and his failure to fulfill that duty amounts to serious misconduct,” added Kalu, a PDP member.
The former commissioner also emphasized that the “Federal High Court of Appeal” Mr. Emeruwa refers to does not exist in Nigeria, adding that PDP lawmakers in the House should have impeached the president for “gross misconduct.”
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