Kamsi Anayo, Awka
Barr. Johnmary Maduakolam, the Young Progressives Party (YPP) candidate for Ihiala Federal Constituency in the 2023 general elections, has dragged the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to court over the conduct of the party primary for House of Representatives aspirants.
The Anambra-based legal luminary said two Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN) and four other lawyers will represent him in the suit numbered NO: FHC/AWK/CS/ 81/2022.
Maduakolam wants the court to nullify the PDP exercise and declare that the party cannot produce a candidate from what he called a shambolic primaries.
He noted that he was a leading aspirant for the House of Representatives under the PDP in the primaries slated for May 27, 2022 since the party cleared him to contest for the House of Reps.
He added that on the day slated for the PDP primaries, his name was omitted from the list of aspirants and his name was not even on the ballot paper.
The development, he noted excluded him from participating in the PDP Primaries despite the fact that he was initially issued a Provisional Clearance Certificate.
“Curiously, Hon. Ifeanyi Chudy Momah, who, until three days to the primaries, belonged to APGA and occupied a seat in the National Assembly for APGA, jumped in and was declared the winner of the PDP primaries.
“Naturally, this surprised many political commentators and observers because he was elected as a member of the House of Representatives under the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) in 2019.
“We knew next to nothing about his resignation from the APGA or his new membership of the PDP before they declared he won the primaries,” he noted.
Maduakolam, a UK-trained lawyer held that his exclusion from the Anambra PDP primaries was a blessing in disguise as his defection to YPP brought him among people, determined to engender democracy, the rule of law, and good governance.
“However, as a lawyer and human rights activist, Maduakolam insisted that he owed a duty to the Nigerian Constitution and the rule of law to present a case before the appropriate court against all the actors involved in the manipulation of the PDP Primaries.
“This action is to serve as deterrence to people who are in the business of truncating democratic processes for selfish gains,” he said.