Enugu Assembly: LP rejects hasty conduct of re-election 24 hours after unjust jailing of rightful winner

 

Joseph Irikefe

 

The Labour Party has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) to suspend the planned re-election for Enugu Urban State constituency just a day after the unjust jailing of the election’s rightful winner.

The party also called on the National Judicial Council, NJC to initiate a disciplinary action against the Attorney General of Enugu state, the Honourable Chief Judge of Enugu State, the Deputy Chief Registrar, and the controversial Magistrate, His Worship E. D Onwu for over reaching their professional dictates and bringing the judiciary to opprobrium and disrepute.

Labour Party’s Deputy National Chairman, Dr. Ayo Olorunfemi while addressing the media in Abuja on Tuesday said, “We have it on good authority that to our utter dismay and disbelief that the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) in a swift decision has fixed a reelection for Enugu Urban State constituency just a day after the unjust jailing of the election’s rightful winner. This hasty move undermines the principles of justice and fair play, raising serious concerns about the integrity of the electoral process.

“We are therefore urging INEC to reconsider this decision and to suspend any further action as regards the Enugu South Rural Constituency election until further notice. This we believe will not gift an undue advantage to a particular party over the rest pending the conclusion of the legal processes arising from this undemocratic actions being perpetrated in Enugu state. INEC must ensure that the will of the people is respected.”

The party also said that “We are at this point calling on the National Judicial Council to initiate a disciplinary action against the Attorney General of Enugu state, the Honourable Chief Judge of Enugu State, the Deputy Chief Registrar, and the controversial Magistrate, His Worship E. D Onwu for over reaching their professional dictates and bringing the judiciary to opprobrium and disrepute.

“We are also demanding that the state government should desist from being a clog in the wheel of democracy by denying a citizen or a political party the right to political participation. For this reason, we insist that on no account should the Labour Party be disenfranchised from contesting the Enugu South Rural Constituency election or any other election for that matter, in which we are qualified to participate.”

Recall that the Labour Party’s candidate in the Enugu South Urban state Constituency assembly, Hon Bright Ngene was sentenced to 7 years imprisonment, over his community but the party is insisting that the imprisonment has politically motivated.

Olorunfemi said, “For our albatross, the only thing that can stop Labour Party from coming out victorious is to conduct the election without the participation of the Labour Party and the only way is to put away our candidate behind bars. It thus appears that this strategy has worked for the PDP. The leadership of Labour Party is perturbed by this development and we are calling on Nigerians to rise up against this assault on democracy being perpetuated in Enugu state.

“We strongly believe that our party and candidate did not get fair hearing. Like I stated earlier, this matter has been rested for about 7 years but all of a sudden, the Presiding magistrate reassumed the matter and within 24 hours gave a ruling in spite of protestations by the defence counsel who fruitlessly dissuade the magistrate to adjourn the matter to a later date for the purpose of fair hearing.

“Recall that the magistrate had claimed he was under pressure to dispense with the matter. This, we see as undue interference from the executive in order to achieve premeditated action. Right to a fair hearing is a right gifted by the laws of the land. Was there fair hearing; don’t the candidate under the law entitled to fair hearing; Is it not a right guaranteed under the law?

“Our candidate was jailed even without the trial magistrate allowing him to address the court. All five motions by his legal team were dismissed before they could finish entering them. Rather than being given a date for judgment, His Worship brazenly delivered a judgment right there and then in a way that suggests that he must have written the judgment before coming to court while pretending that the case was still going on.

“Again, we ask, did the judge have the jurisdiction to entertain the matter? The community had applied to discontinue the matter and wanted the matter transferred to another magistrate court in Enugu South Magisterial Court over alleged bias clearly exhibited by the trial magistrate. The same townsmen who made the complaint requested the court to hands-off the case so that they could resolve it themselves, but the magistrate bluntly refused. This is strange because our statute provides for Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), a faster and a more amicable process of settling disputes.

“What is the interest of the state, why did the Attorney General exhumed the case, even when the state is not in any way part of the matter? Why did the magistrate refuse all entreaties by the Akwuke community to settle the matter internally? Why are they desperate to want Ngene in prison by all means? Can it be that they are hoping to approach INEC to request it to declare the PDP candidate the elected member of the Enugu State House of Assembly representing Enugu South Urban? Or that they want Ngene declared a convict by all means, thus disqualifying him from further participation in the election and its outcome.

“To us, it appears the magistrate was doing a job scripted by another person. It is all part of the electoral fraud that we are talking about. This is nothing but executive rascality on display and we urge Nigerians to rise up to condemn this action and to also defend the democracy which has been under constant threat.

“A magistrate, under the law, is not expected under the prevailing circumstances impose a sentence that is more than three years, and in this case, there was even no option of fine. What is the motive behind the long sentencing? Why the urgency to imprison our candidate even when the NJC has accepted custody of the matter as requested by the candidate? Wouldn’t the parties have maintained status quo pending the intervention of the NJC?”