Politics
No election in Enugu over assassination of LP Senate candidate *Police launch manhunt for killers
There will be no Senatorial elections in Enugu East Senatorial zone of Enugu State, as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has activated the provisions of the Electoral Act, which insists on the postponement of election, where a candidate suddenly dies.
Oyibo Chukwu, a lawyer and candidate of the Labour Party (LP) for the zone, was assassinated on Wednesday night, as he was returning with some of the party members from a campaign pitch at Amechi Awkunanaw, in the Enugu South Local Government of Enugu State.
INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, said on Thursday that the commission was waiting for a formal information on the development and where satisfied, it would countermand the election for two weeks, as provided for in the electoral law.
Recalling a situation where INEC was informed of a similar incident where another candidate for the senatorial election died in Kano recently, he told reporters, during a briefing on the commission’s preparedness for the commencement of the 2023 elections on Saturday, adding that in the Kano situation, the party had since forwarded the name of another candidate for the election, which had now been listed for the Saturday polls.
Citing Section 34 of the Electoral Act, he said: “There are procedures to handling such an issue. In such a situation, the commission will have to countermand the senatorial district for two weeks. The section can only be activated if the party involved officially notifies the commission.
“Section 34(b) stipulates that in the case of election into a legislative House, the election shall start afresh and the political party whose candidate died may, if it intends to continue to participate in the election, conduct a fresh primary within 14 days of the death of its candidate and submit the name of a new candidate to the commission to replace the dead candidate:
“Provided that in the case of presidential or gubernatorial or Federal Capital Territory Area Council election, the running mate shall continue with the election and nominate a new running mate,” the section says.
Julius Abure, National Chairman of LP, had called for the postponement of the election in Enugu East Senatorial District, following the incident, where Chukwu’s remains and those of five other victims killed with him were were set ablaze inside the vehicle they were travelling.
Abure, who in a statement, on Thursday, listed some LP candidates that had been killed, kidnapped, tortured, or injured ahead of this year’s general election, called for calm among the party’s members and supporters, stressing that the party would get to the bottom of the killings.
“Let me also condole with the immediate family of Honourable Oyibo Chukwu and the entire Labour Party family over this painful loss. I pray that God will give us the fortitude to bear this loss,” he said.
Enugu State Police Command, blamed members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and Eastern Security Network (ESN) for the incident, saying Commissioner Ahmed Ammani had since ordered intensification of discreet investigations and manhunt.
The police, in a statement by Daniel Ndukwe, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), and spokesman of the command, stressed the move to arrest the “subversive criminal elements, suspected to be IPOB/ESN renegades, who in the night hours of February 22, 2023 at different locations, ambushed and simultaneously attacked and murdered Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party (LP) members, and also attempted to attack the convoy of the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate.”
Ammani, who spoke after visiting the scenes of the incidents at Topland, by Ebony Paint Road, and Eke-Otu, both in Amechi-Awkunanaw, Enugu, condemned the attacks and commiserated with the parties and family members of the deceased.
Justice Usman Mallam Na’Abba, of the Kano State High Court, on Monday, reversed himself five days after making an order barring Abdullahi Ganduje National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), from parading himself or performing any official function in that capacity.
In vacating the order made ex-parte, following a plea by Haladu Gwanjo and Laminu Sani Barguma, who claimed to be the Chairman and Secretary of the APC Ganduje Ward in Dawakin Tofa Local Government area of the state, for the suspension of the former Governor of the state from his present job, Na’Abba said he relied on fresh arguments made on the matter.
The fresh applications were brought by Glory Adah, a litigation secretary at the law firm representing the APC boss in a motion ex-parte, accompanied by a 27-paragraph affidavit in support, and a written address dated April 22nd, countering the grounds of his previous orders.
Na’Abba, who adjourned the case to April 30 for the hearing, said: “An order of interim injunction is hereby granted staying the execution of the order of interim injunction contained in the ruling of this court delivered on 17h April 2024 directing parties to maintain status quo ante as at the 15th day of April 2024 in relation to the suspension of the 4th respondent/applicant from the 1st respondent by the Ganduje Ward Executive Committee pending the hearing and determination of the 4th respondent/applicant motion on notice.”
There is no valid order stripping Abdullahi Ganduje of his position of National Chairman of All Progressives Congress (APC), known to the party and therefore, he will continue his duties as prescribed, the National Working Committee (NWC), has insisted, debunking that he is no longer a member of the party by the orders of the courts.
Felix Morka, spokesman of the party, who made this declaration on Wednesday, on Arise Television, maintained that neither Ganduje himself nor the party, was served with the orders, said to have been obtained against the party boss by his ward in Kano State, where he served as a two-term governor between 2015 and 2023.
Insisting that Ganduje’s position remained intact, explained that the ruling party would disregard the said court order affirming Ganduje’s suspension as APC national chairman and only honour the recent Kano Federal High Court ruling ordering a stay of the order.
The declaration is coming on a day Justice AM Liman of the Federal High Court, Abuja overturned the said suspension of Ganduje by his ward executives in Dawakin Tofa Local Government area of Kano State.
The party boss, had obtained the ruling through another ex-parte motion in which he sought to enforce his fundamental right to a fair hearing, in a suit, in which he also joined the Nigerian Police Force (NPF), Department of State Services (DSS ), Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and nine other individuals.
Morka told his hosts: “The order issued by the first court was very disturbing, for some reasons. First, the plaintiffs who purportedly filed that action are not recognised members of our party and therefore shouldn’t have the locus standi to invoke the authority of the court to make any such order.
“Secondly, every lawyer in this country is aware that from the Supreme Court up to the NJC, there is this cautiousness that judges don’t make orders that are far-reaching in effect on an ex parte motion or application”
Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), did his best to resolve the crisis in the party, but his suggestions for lasting peace was ignored by the National Chairman, Julius Abure.
This much was revealed by Yinusa Tanko, Chief Spokesman for the Obi-Datti Campaign Organisation, who made the revelation, said that the current crisis rocking the party, could have been prevented if the leadership had taken the advice of the former Governor of Anambra State.
A guest on The Morning Brief, a breakfast programme on Channels television, on Monday, the former campaign spokesman, said: “His Excellency, Peter Obi, has made a concerted effort in trying to intervene at any point we have this particular issue and trying to improve.
“When the issue of the national convention came up, he (Obi) suggested to the national chairman that because we are bigger now, we need to have a wider consultation: meet with responsible and interested people such as the TUC and NLC, stakeholders, the Obidient group – young generation people who are interested in seeing Nigeria work – meet with leaders who have different ideas that can midwife us into a greater height.
“All of these were the suggestions that he (Obi) made, and not only did he make those suggestions, he practicalised them because he met with the members of the National Assembly. He (Obi) met with the leadership of the party recently in Asaba trying to give them ideas on how he thinks certain things could be done and you could improve our situation but of course, you know how politics is, sometimes, people may be trying to encourage people, but they do something different.
“You can only take a horse to the river, but you cannot force it to drink water. So that’s exactly what Peter Obi has done. He has done so greatly to see if we can find a solution to some of the problems we find ourselves.”
Tanko, who argued that Abure had the right to contest the national chairmanship position again, it was only proper that the right things are done by opening the door for more people to be part of the process, noted however that the party boss went outside an initial agreement to have an all-inclusive national convention which ought to start from the ward, local government and state levels before the national level.
He said that the convention held in Nnewi Anambra State that returned Abure as the party’s leader did not conform with that agreement and therefore was not acceptable to everyone within the party.
Asked if the crisis in the party could be a problem for Obi in the next election, Tanko said Obi is a brand of his own and that he and other people would always move with him wherever he went to.
At the convention of the Labour Party held on March 27 in Nnewi, Abure was re-elected as the National Chairman for a second term by a unanimous affirmation of delegates despite strong opposition by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC). The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had also said none of its officials monitored the convention while the party’s Board of Trustees insisted that Abure’s tenure had expired.
Before the controversial convention, the NLC called for Abure’s resignation as party chairman and the immediate constitution of a caretaker transition committee to organise a legitimate and all-inclusive national convention for the party.
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