Jubilation rocks Njikoka over victory in Appeal Court----Chief Emeka Onuorah

The chairman of Njikoka Local Government Area, Chief Emeka Onuorah, has described the Appeal Court’s dismissal of a motion seeking to have him removed as chairman of the council by one Bude Okafor as a vindication of his stand that the same court earlier erred in declaring his opponent as the candidate of his party, the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, despite the matter being a pre-election case.
Addressing newsmen in his office in Abagana last Tuesday, Onuorah recalled that after the court of first instance had upheld his victory in the January 2014 local government elections, Bude, whom he said had since left the party, had gone to court to challenge Onuorah’s victory, asking the court to declare him the candidate of the party in that election.
Onuorah’s election was upheld in the High Court but Bude went ahead to appeal the judgement at the appellate court.
According to Onuorah, despite established cases even by the Supreme Court where such matters had been thrown out, being pre-election issues, the Appeal Court amazingly declared Bude the candidate of the party but failed to give a consequential order for him to be sworn in.
Dissatisfied with that judgement, Onuorah said he went to the Supreme Court to challenge it, noting that the matter still subsisted, but further noted that he still remained the chairman pending the determination of the Supreme Court suit, as was the established practice. He also noted that his position remained unassailable because there was no consequential order for his opponent to be sworn in.
The local government boss maintained that he remained the candidate of APGA in that election and that the party actually said so in the court of first instance (High Court) through an affidavit deposed by the erstwhile state chairman of the party, Mike Kwentoh. 
Onuorah said it was in a bid to get such an authority to be sworn in that Bude returned to the Appeal Court, praying it to compel the state government to swear him, Bude, in but the motion was dismissed.
Consequently, the chairman said, he still remained the chairman of the council until the apex court ruled on his petition. ‘The situation today is that I remain the chairman until the Supreme Court rules otherwise,’ Onuorah stated, even as he advised Bude to join issues with him in the Supreme Court if he believed in the rule of law. 
By Jude Atupulazi