Stella Oduah Debunks Reports Of Supreme Court Sacking
Olorunfemi Ojo
Anambra Senator and Former Aviation Minister, Stella Oduah, has debunked reports that the Supreme Court has nullified her election into the Senate.
There had been reports on Friday that the Supreme Court had sacked two Senators from Anambra State, Stella Oduah and Andy Uba, nearly two months after a third Senator from the state, Uche Ekwunife, was sacked.
The reports was following the Supreme Court ruling which re-affirmed the chairmanship of Ejike Oguebego as the authentic State Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Anambra State.
The Supreme Court also declared the list of candidates submitted by the Ken Emekayi-faction illegal.
But Oduah in an interview with Channels Television while clarifying the implication of the judgement on her election into the Senate said, “In all its entirety, it is false.
“I have gone through the court judgment and the judge clearly did not give any judgement to that effect.
“Indeed, what the judgment and the case is all about is state exco and as we all know, state exco do not do election, neither do they submit list.
“So the issue of emergence of candidate, and the issue of candidates that won election was not the issue of this particular case.”
She added that there is a “sister case” for which the Supreme Court has given a similar judgment but they were not related.
“The Judge was very clear on its judgment and it clearly says its not about who emerges or the election but about the legality of the excos,” she said.
Oduah was a former Aviation Minister, who resigned her position to pursue her political ambition while Mr Uba was a former Special Adviser to former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Domestic Affairs.
All the Senators from Anambra State, including Mrs Ekwunife, emerged on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Oduah said that she was initially baffled when the news of her supposed sacking reached her. “I was shocked because I knew we went through the right process and its only national executive that submits list to INEC. So the judgment was not against us the candidates of PDP.”
The Anambra State PDP Chairman, Mr Oguebego, had sued on behalf of themselves and others including Mr Chris Uba, who is the Anambra South Senatorial Zone candidate for the apex court to determine who were the legal and validly nominated candidates of the party to stand for the last general elections for the party in the state.
Going by the ruling, the list of nominated party candidates in the last election from the Oguebego-led executive of the Anambra PDP is the only one to be recognised by the INEC.
