The ongoing legal fireworks and the scramble for Enugu West senatorial seat at the National Assembly currently occupied by the embattled former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, has brought to the fore the aphorism that no condition is permanent, and also one can only know of one’s true friend during period of trials and travails and not when the going was good.

Ekweremadu will be shocked to the marrows that even while he is still alive and only facing some challenges, which should ordinarily attract sympathy from friends and close allies, the opposite seemed to be the case as his seat is now a subject of a legal dispute following his long absence as a result of his incarceration in the United Kingdom over alleged organ harvest charges.

This is as a legal practitioner and an aspirant for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ticket for the senatorial district in the 2019 general election, Chief Ogochukwu Onyema, has prayed the Federal High Court to declare Ekweremadu’s seat vacant.

In the lawsuit marked FHC/EN/ CS/7/2022 filed at the Federal High Court Enugu, Onyema is also seeking an order of the court “commanding and mandating” the National Chairman of the PDP, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu and the PDP to “select, nominate, and forward” his name to the National Assembly “as a replacement” for Senator Ekweremadu.

He further prayed the court to command and mandate the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu and INEC to “withdraw or revoke, as the case may be, the Certificate of Return earlier issued to the 3rd defendant (Ekweremadu) and issue a fresh Certificate of Return” to him. However, another Enugu-based legal practitioner, Evang. Chinenye Orji, faulted Onyema, saying the lawsuit flies in the face of the laws of Nigeria, including the Electoral Act.

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He noted that section 68 of the Constitution expressly lists the grounds and processes for declaring a senator’s seat vacant. It would be recalled that former Deputy President of the Senate, Ekweremadu, who is currently standing trial in UK alongside his wife over alleged organ harvest for their sick daughter, Sonia, had at the PDP senatorial primary election, which took place at Awgu, Enugu State, on 2nd October 2018, polled 690 votes to emerge winner, defeating his closest rivals, Mr. Isaac Okah, who polled 84 votes and Chief Onyema who polled 61 votes to place third. But in an originating summons, Onyema wants the court to determine, among others: “Whether it is the intendment and contemplation of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999) as amended 2018; the Senate Standing Orders 2015 as amended; and the Senate Legislative Calendar 2022, that the seat of Enugu West Senatorial District in the 9th Senate will be declared vacant by default, if the Senator representing, without just cause absent from sittings of the Senate for a period amounting in the aggregate to more than one-thirds of the total number of days during which the Senate meets in any one year, which is one-thirds of 181.

“Whether by virtue of the continuous absence of the 3rd defendant (Ekweremadu) from the Senate since 22nd day of June 2022 or days prior (when he last attended the sitting of the Senate), up till the date of adaptation of this Summons, or any other date thereafter, it could be said that the 3rd defendant is still validly representing the plaintiff (Chief Onyema) and Enugu West Senatorial District, as provided by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and the Senate Standing Order 2015 as amended, in Nigeria Senate.

“Whether going by the heinous allegations leveled against the 3rd defendant and his incarceration at the United Kingdom, Wandsworth Prison, since around 22nd day of June 2022 up till the date of adoption of this Summons, the 3rd defendant can be said to have defaulted and be away from representing the plaintiff and Enugu West Senatorial District in the House of Senate.

“Whether by virtue of the 3rd defendant’s travails, which was not caused by the plaintiff or any of his constituents, and going by the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999) as amended, the Senate Standing Order 2015 as amended, it is wise and best, for the 3rd defendant to honorably agree that he has defaulted in representation, withdraw from his position, and mandating the 1st and second defendants (the Senate President and the Senate) to declare his position vacant by default, and instantly communicate same to 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th defendants (Clerk to the National Assembly, Dr. Ayu, PDP, Prof. Yakubu, and INEC) for appropriate and timeous actions, of his replacement with the plaintiff, by the 5th and 6th defendants, and a Certificate of Return to be issued to the plaintiff by the 7th and 8th defendants.”

But challenging Onyema, another legal practitioner, Orji, who also hails from the senatorial district, said that even if a vacancy occurs for any reason, the seat wouldn’t be inherited by anybody, as section 76 of the Constitution provides that INEC must conduct a fresh election within 30 days to fill such vacancy.

“Section 68 (1) provides, among others, that a member of the Senate or of the House of Representatives shall vacate his seat in the House of which he is a member if he becomes a member of another legislative house; any other circumstances arise that, if he were not a member of the Senate or the House of Representatives, would cause him to be disqualified for election as a member.

“Or the presiding officer receives a certificate under the hand of the INEC Chairman stating that the provisions of section 69 of the Constitution in respect of the recall of a lawmaker have been complied with.

But even at that, Section 68 (3) provides that a Senator or House member shall not be deemed to be absent without just cause from a meeting of the House unless the person presiding certifies in writing that he is satisfied that the absence of the member from the meeting was for a just cause,” he explained.

He said none of these applies to Senator Ekweremadu yet as he had not been absent for no just cause or for one-thirds of the total number of sitting of the Senate in 2022. “A year is 365 days but remember that the Senate sits for only three days in a week; that is from Tuesday to Thursday.

Ekweremadu was arrested in the UK around June 22 and the Senate was on recess in July and returned on 20th September. So, there is no way he could be absent from session for one-third of the seating between now and December because the Senate will only sit for a maximum of 42 days.

“When you take Christmas, it will be much less. And if you add New Year and 2023 election recess, there is no way he could have absented himself from plenary for the remaining part of the lifespan of the Senate, which will most likely end in May 2023.

Besides, Onyema placed third in the said primary, not second and even if he came second, he would still not inherit Enugu West seat because the constitution, in section 76 of the 1999 provides that where a vacancy exists in the National Assembly, such vacancy shall be filled within 30 days vide an election on a date to be appointed by INEC.

“Also, the Electoral Act 2022 provides that you cannot occupy an elective position without participating in all the processes leading to the election. So, did Onyema contest the senatorial election in 2019? The answer is ‘No’. We know Onyema has always wanted to be in the Senate, being a perennial senatorial aspirant but it must not be through the backdoor,” Orji asserted.

Meanwhile as the legal fireworks subsists in court, a new twist has been added to the drama as the man (Okah), who placed second in the primary election that produced Ekweremadu has surfaced to announce that he was not dead and that Onyema lied on oath by claiming that he was dead.

Okah accused Onyema of telling lies to gain undue favour by informing the Federal High Court Enugu that he was the only runner-up that should be nominated as Senator Ekweremadu’s replacement. In a statement issued in Enugu Okah said: “Onyema lied on oath by deposing to an affidavit that the 1st runner-up, being my humble self, is dead, hence purportedly leaving him as the only available runner up.

I wish to unequivocally clarify that I, Mr. Isaac Okah, a retired Director in the Federal Civil Service, am alive, well, and running my private business.” He dissociated himself from the case instituted in court by Onyema, seeking to replace Ekweremadu, adding that declaring him (Okah) dead in order to mislead the court was sacrilegious. (New Telegraph)

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