… IKENGA DESCRIBES JUDGMENT AS A VICTORY FOR DEMOCRACY.
By Obinna Nwachukwu
The plot by the All Progressives Congress in Imo State to disqualify the PDP candidate for the Ideato North and South Federal Constituency election, Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere has again suffered a devastating blow as the Federal High Court sitting in Owerri quashes suit filed by the APC to disqualify Ikenga from participating in the election.
The ruling Party had approached the Court to disqualify only Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere on the basis that his primary election was conducted in Owerri, the state capital, and not within the Federal constituency
The suit singled out Ikenga Ugochinyere despite the fact that all forty PDP legislative election primaries in Imo State were held at the same time and venue.
Stakeholders in the State are of the opinion that the fear of the impending landslide victory of Ikenga Ugochinyere must have informed the suit as the APC did not take all the PDP candidates to Court except the opposition spokesperson.
Justice M. A. Onyetenu, in his Judgment, declared that the suit was baseless and vexatious and only amounted to meddlesomeness by the Plaintiff since APC, as a political does not have any business challenging the primaries of another political party. The judge further described the primary election that produced Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere as proper and in line with the Electoral Act.
Ikenga Ugochinyere hailed the Nigerian judiciary as truly the last hope of the common man and the bastion of the Nigerian democracy, saying for the eighth straight time he had obtained judicial victory in the race for the Federal House.
He also described the Judgment as yet another resounding victory for democracy, noting that he was sure of a tsunami of votes with this hurdle out of the way.
In less than 30 minutes, when the news of the Judgment hit town, there was carnival-like jubilation in the Federal Constituency with cars blaring their horns, market women singing songs, and youths running around the villages singing songs of victory saying Ikenga is their warrior who will win their wars for them.
The PDP Chairman of Ideato South and North, Chief Durukweaku, and Chief ThankGod Okeke, while reacting to the Judgment and calling on Ideato People to Vote for PDP and Ikenga, said that the Judgment had reaffirmed the Peoples confidence that Ikenga, if elected the Representative for Ideato North and South Federal Constituency have the capacity to deliver/effectively represent Ideato people and attract sustainable home infrastructure and other dividends of democracy.
Reacting to the development, a chieftain of the party in imo state, Dr Sunny Ogunlewe said ” in Ikenga, Ideato People, the Igbo race, and Nigeria will have a strong voice and courageous defender of democracy, justice, and good governance”