A legal practitioner in the chambers of Chief Arthur Obi Okafor, SAN,
counsel to the affected Anambra lawmakers, Mr. Vincent Otaokpukpu, has
urged Nigerians, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, the
Senate President, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the
general public to disregard and ignore what he described as the misleading
media reports on the Anambra PDP Supreme Court ruling to the effect that
the apex court had sacked PDP senators and other members of the national
assembly.
Otaokpukpu said no where in the Supreme Court ruling did the ruling
withdrew the certificate of returns of the Anambra Lawmakers.
The statement read: “From the foregoing, it is clear that the Supreme
Court did not order the withdrawal of the certificates of return issued to
our clients. The court also did not hold that the state PDP (Oguebego led
– Executive) had the right to sponsor candidates for the party.
“The apex court did not order Senator Andy Uba, Senator Stella Uduah and
seven other members of the House of Representatives representing Anambra
State to vacate their seats whatsoever as rumored in the social media, as
same was not asked for by the appellant (Ejike Oguebego) in the Supreme
Court, nor at the Federal High Court.
“The apex court did not equally authorize INEC, who was the 2nd
respondent in the appeal, to substitute our clients with the individuals
whose names were improperly allowed by INEC in obvious disregard of the
plethora of judgments of the Supreme Court of Nigeria to the effect that
it is only the National Executive Committee of the party that has the
right and capacity to sponsor candidates.”