The Peoples Democratic Party has urged a Federal High Court in Abuja to nullify the certificate of return issued to Mr. Uche Ogah, recognising him as the winner of the April 11, 2015 governorship election in Abia State.
Joined as a defendant in the suit is the Independent National Electoral Commission.
The PDP is seeking a court order voiding the certificate of return issued by INEC to Ogah and as well as a perpetual injunction restraining Ogah and his agents from relying on the certificate of return.
The party is also urging the court to hold that Governor Okezie Ikpeazu contested and won the Abia State governorship election held on April 11 and April 25, 2015 as the candidate of the PDP.
It also wants the court to declare that Ikpeazu was lawfully sworn in as Abia State governor on May 29, 2015.
In the suit filed through its counsel, Dr. Paul Ananaba (SAN), the PDP is asking the court to determine whether the certificate of return issued by INEC to Ogah, declaring him as the winner of the April 11, 2015 Abia State governorship election was not null and void when INEC had already declared the April 11, 2015 election inconclusive.
It urged the court to determine, “whether the certificate of return dated June 27, 2016 issued by INEC to Ogah of the PDP as having been elected into office of the governor of Abia State at the governorship election held on the 11th day of April, 2015 is not liable to be nullified as invalid, null and void, in that no conclusive governorship election was concluded by INEC in Abia State on April 11, 2015.”
The PDP is also urging the court to determine whether the Chief Judge of Abia State, the President of the Abia State Customary Court of Appeal or any judicial officer in Nigeria could swear Ogah in as the Abia State governor, based on what it described as an invalid certificate of return.
The Abia State chapter of the PDP had called for investigation and probe of the certificate of return issued to Ogah by INEC, describing it as invalid and erroneously issued.
The Publicity Secretary of the PDP in the state, Chief Don Ubani, had, while addressing the press in Umuahia, said the party rejected the move to install Ogah who it claimed did not participate in the governorship election.
Ubani said, “The party recollects that the governorship election of 2015 in Abia State came in two phases – that of April 11 which was declared inconclusive by the electoral body and that of April 25 which conclusively declared and confirmed Okezie Ikpeazu as the governor-elect of Abia State.
“(Our position is) that Governor Okezie Ikpeazu’s certificate of return is a product of the elections of April 11 and April 25 of 2015, as properly reflected on the certificate of return.
“The party vehemently rejects the certificate of return erroneously issued to Mr. Ogah for, among many other reasons, the enormous fact that the certificate of return failed to reflect the fact that the governorship election took place on two different days.”
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