A Federal High Court sitting in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State has on Tuesday, dismissed the rescheduled primaries of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that was held in the state on June 4 and 5.
The court upheld the primary of May 28 and 29 which was cancelled by the National Working Committee (NWC) of the PDP.
The judge, Fatun Riman, restricted the PDP from rejecting the candidature of Ifeanyi Odili and refusing to transmit his name to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the candidate of the party for the Ebonyi 2023 governorship election.
Odili had won the cancelled governorship primary, while Obinna Ogba, a senator, won the rescheduled election which the court voided, causing the PDP in the state to be torn into two factions.
After Mr Odili won the first election and was cancelled by the National Working Committee of the PDP, he, through his lawyer, Mudi Erhenede, asked the court to declare that the national chairman and the national secretary of the PDP cannot upturn “valid” decisions of the NWC and the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party.
He pleaded with the court to declare that the NWC and NEC of the PDP could not have held and did not hold any meeting of the said organs of the party while it was involved in its presidential primaries.
He asked the court to declare that the PDP could not cancel the primary election.
In agreement with Mr Odili, the judge all his pleas, holding that the rescheduled primaries is not in line with the party’s constitution.
The two factions in the state that are in a leadership tussle are the Silas Onu-led faction of the party that conducted the May primary, while the Tochukwu Okorie-led faction conducted the rescheduled primary.
