The Anyichucks Grassroots Organisation has hailed Tuesday’s Federal High Court’s ruling upholding the election of Ifeanyi Odii as the PDP Gubernatorial Candidate in Ebonyi.
The Director, Media and Publicity of the organization, Abia Onyike, made the commendation at a news briefing on Thursday in Abakaliki.
Onyike said that the court ruling had helped to deepen democracy in the country.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that Odii and Obinna Ogba were enmeshed in a legal battle over who was the party’s authentic governorship candidate for the 2023 polls.
NAN recalls that the Federal High Court in Abakaliki had on July 19 declared Odii the authentic gubernatorial candidate of PDP in the state for the second time.
The court declared as invalid and unconstitutional the rescheduled PDP primaries of June 4 and June 5 that produced Ogba as the governorship candidate.
According to Onyike, the Appeal Court “only remitted the appeal filed by Ogba to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court to re-assign the matter to another Judge for re-trial”.
According to him, the Federal High Court had earlier nullified the Governorship, Senate, House of Representatives and House of Assembly primaries held on June 4 and June 5, which produced Ogba and others as PDP candidates.
“The court declared the primaries as unconstitutional, illegal, null and void. Moreover, it was equally held that the Independent National Electoral Commission did not moreitor the primaries as required by the Electoral Act 2022.
“The court upheld the PDP primaries conducted on May 28 and May 29, which produced Odii and other candidates elected during the primary elections,” Onyike said.
Also Speaking, Odii’s Running mate, Igwe Nwagu, said that “the court judgment indicated that the nation’s democracy is growing”.
Nwagu urged the party faithful to always work in oneness in order to be able to win in all the positions in 2023.
“Odii, otherwise known as Anyichuk, has the capacity to take the people of Ebonyi to the Promised Land,” he further said.