One year after, Abia assembly, speaker refuse to inaugurate elected lawmaker

The Abia House of Assembly and its Speaker,Emmanuel Emeruwa, have refused to inaugurate Aaron Uzodike, a lawmaker who was declared elected by an appeal court.

Inaugurated on 14 June 2023, the Assembly clocked one year on Friday.

Emmanuel Emeruwa, the Speaker (PHOTO- Facebook page)

How it happened

Mr Uzodike contested in the 2023 general election for Abia North State Constituency, Abia State, South-east Nigeria, on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

But the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Destiny Nwangwu of the Labour Party (LP) elected winner in the constituency.

Dissatisfied, Mr Uzodike challenged the victory of the LP candidate at the Court of Appeal in Lagos State.

The court, in its judgement on 27 November 2023, nullified the election of Mr Nwangwu and ordered the immediate withdrawal of the certificate of return earlier issued to the LP candidate.

It subsequently declared Mr Uzodike the winner of the exercise and ordered INEC to issue a fresh certificate of return to the PDP candidate.

The Court of Appeal is the highest court for adjudication on disputes over elections into federal and state legislatures.

PREMIUM TIMES exclusively obtained a letter sent by INEC to the clerk of the state’s House of the Assembly announcing the withdrawal of the certificate of return from the Labour Party candidate.

The letter, dated 13 December 2023 and signed by INEC secretary Rose Oriaran-Anthony, was received by the clerk of the House on 18 December of the same year.

Upon the inauguration of the Abia State Assembly last year, the PDP had the majority with 11 members. While the LP had ten members, the YPP had two members, and the APC had only one member.

However, the LP dropped to nine members after the Court of Appeal nullified Mr Nwangwu’s election, while the number of PDP seats in the House increased to 12.

In May, the two lawmakers from the YPP defected to the LP to increase seats to 11.

The state governor, Alex Otti, is a member of the LP. He won the 18 March 2023 governorship election on the platform of the party.

The Speaker of the House of Assembly, Mr Emeruwa, also belongs to the LP. The speaker has the responsibility to ensure the inauguration of the PDP candidate in compliance with the Court of Appeal judgment.

Aaron Uzodike

‘Order from the above’

Mr Uzodike told PREMIUM TIMES in April that, on 14 December 2023, he submitted all the documents needed for his inauguration to the House of Assembly.

The documents which he submitted include the certificate of return issued to him by INEC, the certified true copy of the court judgement that declared him the winner of the election and the INEC’s letter notifying the clerk of the House of the withdrawal of Mr Nwangwu’s certificate of return.

The politician said that after submitting the documents, the speaker of the House, Mr Emeruwa, scheduled his inauguration for 18 January but later sent a message to him on the same day that it would not hold any longer.

“When I visited his office to know why it could not hold, he (Emeruwa) said there was an order from above. But he didn’t mention the person or authority that gave the order,” he had said.

He added that, on 16 April, he visited the assembly chambers after the House reconvened following Easter break and presented himself for the inauguration.

He said, again, the speaker did not allow him to make a presentation or inaugurate him.

“Since then till now, I have not been inaugurated,” he said.

‘I don’t want to talk about this now’

The Speaker of the Abia House of Assembly, Mr Emeruwa, declined to speak when contacted in April for comments.

Mr Emeruwa answered the PREMIUM TIMES reporter’s call, but the reporter was still presenting the matter when the speaker interrupted him.

“I don’t want to talk about this now,” he retorted.

“Just go to the Federal High Court of Appeal, Abuja. Look for the judgment of 27 February 2024. That will give you the information,” he said and immediately ended the call.

How political parties being were represented at Abia Assembly

No inauguration one year after

Mr Uzodike told PREMIUM TIMES on Monday night that he was yet to be inaugurated as a member of the assembly and that no date had been set for such a purpose.

The politician, however, said he learnt that Mr Emeruwa promised to adopt a political solution to get him (Uzodike) inaugurated.

‘The court did not mandate me to inaugurate him’

Earlier, while interacting with reporters on Thursday in Umuahia, Mr Emeruwa, admitted that the Appeal Court in Lagos declared Mr Uzodike winner and mandated INEC to give him a certificate of return

The Speaker, however, claimed “a Federal High Court of Appeal, Abuja” later interpreted the certified true copy of the Appeal Court in Lagos and affirmed that the court ruling did not mandate him to swear in the lawmaker.

PREMIUM TIMES obtained a video clip which showed the speaker making the comments.

“Now the court had to interpret the certified true copy he (Uzodike) had and the court affirmed that the Court (of Appeal in Lagos) gave him judgment, declared him winner and also mandated INEC to give him a certificate of return. But (the court) did not mandate the speaker or anybody else to swear him in,” he claimed.

“That was the judgment of that day. You can also go and make enquiries at the Federal High Court of Appeal in Abuja,” Mr Emeruwa added.

There is no court in Nigeria known as the “Federal High Court of Appeal” that Mr Emeruwa referred to.

‘It’s wild and atrociously ridiculous’

In his reaction, a former commissioner for information in the state, John Kalu, said the claim by Mr Emereuwa that he was not mandated by court ruling to inaugurate Mr Uzodike sounded “wild and atrociously ridiculous.”

Mr Kalu, in a Facebook post on Friday, reminded the speaker that the major document required to inaugurate a lawmaker is the certificate of return from INEC and not certified true copy of a court order.

The former commissioner argued that the court had concluded its function by directing INEC to issue the certificate of return considering that the office of the speaker was not joined in the suit.

“The day you were accepted as a member of Abia State House of Assembly, it was the same certificate of return from INEC that made the clerk accept you,” he told Mr Emereuwa.

“As a public officer, there are certain duties you are ordinarily expected to perform hence you do not require any express court order to perform those duties. One of those duties is to inaugurate whoever INEC issues a certificate of return to as a member of the house and your failure to execute that duty amounts to gross misconduct, ” Mr Kalu, a PDP member, added.

The former commissioner also stressed that the “Federal High Court of Appeal” referred to by Mr Emeruwa does not exist in Nigeria, adding that PDP lawmakers in the House ought to have impeached the speaker for “gross misconduct.”