Nwaoboshi Reacts To Judgment Nullifying His Candidacy

Senator Peter Nwaoboshi, has reacted to the judgement nullifying his candidacy as a Peoples Democratic Party, PDP senator-elect for Delta North Senatorial district.

Agency report says a Federal High Court Abuja on Wednesday, sacked Sen. Peter Nwaoboshi, the senator-elect for Delta North Senatorial District.

The presiding judge, Ahmed Mohammed gave the order while delivering judgment in a suit filed by Mr Ned Nwoko challenging the election of Nwaoboshi as the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the Oct. 2, 2018 primaries of the party held in Delta.

Mohammed held that Nwaoboshi, a serving senator, was not the duly elected candidate of the PDP in the primary election.

The court ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to publish the name of Nwoko as PDP candidate, having established before the court that he scored the highest number of votes in the said primary election.

The court also barred Nwaoboshi from parading himself as the candidate of the PDP for the senatorial zone.

But reacting to the judgment, the Nwaoboshi in a statement by his media team made available to BIGPEN ONLINE, appealed to his teeming supporters and the good people of Delta North to remain calm in the face of what he described as “judicial rascality that will not stand the test of time when appealed against”.

Describing the judgement as “very erroneous pronouncements made by Justice A.R Mohammed, senator Peter Nwaoboshi gave a graphic details of what he said are facts of the matter thus:

(1) PDP senatorial primary election was conducted on the 2nd of October 2018. Three aspirants namely senator Peter Nwaoboshi, Alhaji Ned Nwoko and Mr Paul Osaji, contested. Senator Nwaoboshi emerged winner with 506 votes while Alhaji Nwoko and Mr Osaji scored 453 votes and 216 votes respectively.

(2) Alhaji Nwoko proceeded to a Federal High court in Abuja on the 11th of December to challenge the outcome of the primary election. Since the constitution allows the challenge of all primary election to be brought before any court of competent jurisdiction within 14 days after the conduct of the primary election, Alhaji Ned Nwoko and his legal team filed out of time when they so did on the 11th day of December 2018. Elementary arithmetic ought to have taught the errant Judge that Alhaji Nwoko and his legal team filed out of time by 56 days and thus lacked the jurisdiction to hear or entertain the matter in his court. Ironically, the same Judge had dismissed two pre election matters within the last six weeks for filing both matters out of time. Only the Judge can explain what came over him in this instant case.

(3) In making his strange pronouncements, the Judge relied on a case officially discontinued by Alhaji Nwoko and his legal team, and judicially struck out in an open court on the 10th of December 2018. In his attempt to breathe life into a case which a court discontinued for lack of jurisdiction, the  Judge argued that his court borrowed both life and jurisdiction from a case that is judicially nonexistent. Justice A.R. Mohammed  is of the unjudicial opinion that since there was an initial filing of the case before an FCT high court, (a state high court) that even though the case was discontinued and struck out for lack of jurisdiction, he  insisted that the court which dismissed the case has jurisdiction to try the matter, and as such he would borrow the filing time in the dismissed case. In so doing, he turned a High court into an Appellate court. This is indeed a weird and strange ruling.

(4) Though the judgement only ordered PDP to publish the name of Alhaji Nwoko as the candidate of PDP, an event overtaken by time, and did not order Inec to declare Nwoko as the senator elect of Delta North, the judicial inconsistency  of Justice A. R. Mohammed of court 5 of federal High court Abuja shall bee challenged and brought before the highest judicial authorities in the country. The pyrrhic victory which he illegally awarded to Alhaji Nwoko shall be consigned to the dustbin of judicial history.

Nwaoboshi however thanked the good people of Delta North for their support and love, saying, “no man born of a woman can fraudulently snatch away the victory given to him by God”.