Solidarity swayed at the weekend for the imprisoned presumed winner of the Enugu South Urban Constituency election in Enugu State, Bright Ngene. Members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) stormed the Nigerian Correctional Service to seek his release.
INEC declaration
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Bright, a Labour Party (LP) candidate, winner of the 2023 House of Assembly election in the area. He won with over 5,000 votes and was sworn into the House of Assembly. His victory was, however, cut short following the nullification of results from eight polling booths by the Appeal Tribunal. They also ordered a rerun in the affected booths.
Nullification of the petition
The nullification was based on the petition from the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the election, Sam Ngene.
INEC had on three occasions fixed the rerun election and failed on each occasion. A development Bright insists he is the winner. Since he still possessed the highest number of valid votes in the exercise.
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What an Enugu Magistrate had to say
Late last month, an Enugu Magistrate, D.D Onwu, had relied on a case that had allegedly been in court since 2017 to pronounce him guilty of stealing and mismanagement of funds belonging to his community and had, therefore, thrown him into prison. Onwu had sentenced him to seven years.
Condemnation of the trial
Condemning the manner in which the trial was held and the alleged state backing to it, State Chairman of the APC in Enugu, Ugochukwu Agballah, stated that the party would do all in its power to secure justice for Bright. And also ensure his mandate was restored.
He stated that though Bright is not a member of the APC. They decided to show solidarity because “injustice to one is injustice to another.” He also alleged that his incarceration was due to his demand for his mandate.
Petition to the President
Agballah stated that the party would not only appeal the judgement but would petition President Bola Tinubu on what he described as a “miscarriage of justice and attempt to force the candidate to abandon his mandate.”
“Ngene is the Labour Party candidate, who won the election. Today he is in jail, he is serving term today because he is trying to recover his mandate. And we are here in solidarity with him because injustice to one is injustice to all. We are here on the mandate and instruction of the leader of our party, Chief Uche Nnaji, the Minister for Innovation, Science and Technology. He has asked that we come and meet with Ngene personally and find out the true situation of things.
“We are going to do everything within our power to ensure that Bright Ngene is free. The controversial judgement by Magistrate D.D Onwu is not acceptable to us. We are going to take that judgement to the highest body in Nigeria, to the NJC and appeal it. And send our lawyers to go to court and fight for his bail. We are going to look into this judgement and we heard a report from the lawyer that his address was rejected. It is against the precedence of law. It is against the rule of the high court and natural justice and we will do all to ensure that justice is done in this matter and whoever, no matter how highly placed, has his hand in this miscarriage of justice will be brought to book because nobody is above the law including judicial officers.
Submitting the matter to the President
“We will take this matter to the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Senator Bola Tinubu because he swore an oath to protect the people of the country irrespective of where they come from. The matter will be presented to the zonal leadership of our party and APC as a party is coming into the party because we cannot allow Abacha to rise again in Enugu state. We are also investigating and will make a report to the National Chairman of the INEC about this development,” Agballah stated.
He added that the party would resist any attempt by the INEC to conduct the rerun election. That is, until Bright Ngene secures his freedom.
State Chairman of PDP washing hands off the party
Meanwhile, State Chairman of the PDP, Augustine Nnamani, had earlier washed the hands of the party. And also state government off the matter. He explained that, “it is the kinsmen of Bright Ngene that took him to court and prosecuted him for stealing.”
Nnamani had asked those sympathetic about the matter to direct it to the community.
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