APC, Okafor ask court to sack Imo House of Representatives member

Okorocha denies working against S’East in speakership race
The All Progressives Congress (APC) and its candidate in the last House of Assembly ballot in Imo State, Chike Okafor, have asked the Abuja division of the Court of Appeal to nullify the judgement of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) that produced Emeka Nwajiuba of the Accord Party (AP) as the representative of Ehime Mbano/Ihiteuboma/Obowo federal constituency.

The prayers were contained in their separate notices of appeal filed before the appellate court against the ruling of the FCT High Court, which gave rise to the issuance of Certificate of Return to Nwajiuba by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Justice Bello Kawau of the Bwari division of FCT High Court had, in its order on February 12, 2019, barred INEC from accepting or listing the candidate of the APC in the rescheduled National Assembly election.

The legal action, which threw up Nwajiuba, was ignited by a House of Representatives aspirant, Mrs. Chioma Uzoma, who sued APC, Nwajiuba and INEC at the High Court.

Meanwhile, former governor of Imo State, Senator Rochas Okorocha, has denied involvement in the intrigues that denied Southeast the House of Representatives speakership. Nwajiuba had accused the former governor of working against Igbo lawmakers in the speakership race.

In a statement yesterday, Okorocha’s Special Adviser on Media, Sam Onwuemeodo, alluded to publications allegedly sponsored by Nwajiuba.The statement read: “Hon. Emeka Nwajiuba of the Accord Party (AP) has, for some days now, done a lot of publications in the media accusing the former governor of the state and the senator representing Imo West, Rochas Okorocha, of being responsible for the loss of the speakership of the House of Representatives by the Southeast.

“Nwajiuba, however, did not state how he arrived at that faulty conclusion, except his contention that the former governor did not allow primaries to take place for the state chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC) for the 2019 election. He did not also explain how, because it was the national headquarters of the party that handled the primaries of APC in the state, both the one Ahmed Gulak truncated and the second exercise.”

The senator said it was unimaginable for him to have supported Nwajiuba for such position.“It would have been unimaginable to believe that the president would adopt a member of Accord Party for such position, no matter the relationship, and even when his matter is at the Appeal Court. So, accusing Rochas Okorocha of being behind his failure to succeed with his name-dropping strategy this time was just a cover-up,” the statement added.