Following the controversy surrounding Chijioke Edeoga’s missing name in the Labour Party register submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, before the conduct of the party’s primary election, National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Asaba, Delta State, has disqualified and as well nullified the election of Mr. Ngozi Okolie of the Labour Party as member representing Aniocha/Oshimili Constituency at the House of Representatives.
The tribunal in a judgement on Monday, held that Okolie was not duly sponsored by the Labour Party as he was not a member of the party as at May 28, 2022 when the primary purportedly held.
The tribunal declared the runner up in the February 25, 2023 National Assembly, Ndudi Elumelu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as winner.
Elumelu who is the immediate past Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, had filed his petition, praying the tribunal to disqualify Okolie who was declared winner of the election by the INEC.
Recall that the subpoenaed witness from the INEC, Emmanuel Demis from Legal Drafting Department called by Chijioke Edeoga had on Tuesday, 11 July, 2023 disclosed that the membership register of the LP submitted to the commission before the election does not have Edeoga’s name as the Isiuzo LGA was not found in the list.
Sources close to the matter revealed that the embattled Enugu Labour Party governorship candidate who is presently in court against Governor Peter Mbah of the PDP would likely be disqualified by the tribunal as he was not sponsored by the party as required by the Electoral Act 2022.
A senior lawyer in Edeoga’s legal team lamented that all their efforts at the tribunal against Mbah may end in futility as their client could not substantiate his membership of the Labour Party even during trial at the tribunal.
The lawyer who pleaded anonymity said Edeoga shot himself in the leg when he invited an adverse witness who testified against him, saying all efforts by the legal team to convince the tribunal to declare the witness an hostile witness failed.
“There is a big trouble in Edeoga’s camp. It’s the big elephant in the room which we are presently contending with. The truth is that, our client was and still not a member of the Labour Party, but we’ll see how to navigate it and bend the tribunal. Our lead counsel has told him on a number of occasions that his case is weak and may not scale through if the matter of his membership was raised at the tribunal.
“Sadly, during cross-examination by Chief Wole Olanipekun who is a lead counsel in Peter Mbah’s team, he raised the issue of Edeoga’s membership and it was found out as a matter of fact that he was not a member of the Labour Party. Remember he contested under the PDP and didn’t resign before defecting to the Labour Party by which time, the party register had already been transmitted to the INEC.
“Although, Edeoga informed us he visited the INEC and sorted out things, but we were still surprised that his name is nowhere to be found even in his Isi Uzo LP party register,” the lawyer added.
It was gathered that since the news of the sack of the LP lawmaker filtered into the air, Edeoga has called multiple meetings of members of his inner caucus on what to do to save him from the imminent disqualification and dismissal of his suit by the tribunal.
One of Edeoga’s henchmen who was privy to the meetings said there was danger ahead of them at the tribunal because of Edeoga’s non membership of the LP.
He expressed concerns over the deteriorating health of the LP candidate should the news of the sack be true, stressing that some people who were connected to Abuja had already started lobbying the tribunal to be lenient with the Enugu LP candidate.
However, the Labour Party secretariat in Isi Uzo Local Government Area had said Edeoga was their registered member through national waiver even though his name is not on the party register, stressing that the waiver had shielded him from official registration.
