Ex-senate Aspirant to Court: Declare Ekweremadu’s Seat Vacant

* Your demand is satanic, says Ohanaeze youthsGideon Arinze in Enugu

A Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) aspirant for the Enugu West Senatorial District in the 2019 general election, Chief Ogochukwu Onyema, has asked a Federal High Court, to declare Senator Ike Ekweremadu’s seat vacant.

Senator Ekweremadu is currently in detention in London, the United Kingdom, over alleged organ harvesting. The senator and his wife are both standing trial over alleged organ harvest for their sick daughter.

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

Onyeama also prayed the court to 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.

In an originating summons, Onyema wanted the court to determine, among others, “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.”

But the youth wing of the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council, has described Onyema’s action as satanic.
In a statement by its  National President, Mazi Okwu Nnabuike, it said it was satanic for anyone to file such a suit against the lawmaker in the face of his current challenges.

“The council finds it agonising that any human being could come up with this kind of satanic and acidic suit against Senator Ike Ekweremadu,” Nnabuike said in the statement.

He noted that the demand by Onyeama was even more cruel coming at a time when it has been revealed that Ekweremadu was facing health challenges in detention.

“One expects any person with conscience to empathize with the lawmaker in the face of these challenges. As an Enugu West man, whom Ekweremadu is representing, he has never shown sympathy since Ekweremadu started going through all these difficulties” Nnabuike explained.

The council, therefore, called on the plaintiff to immediately withdraw the suit for the sake of posterity and human conscience as nobody was immune to health challenges.