UMUAHIA, Abia State – Members of the Abia State chapter of the Labour Party took to the streets of Umuahia, the state’s capital, on Monday to protest the recent sacking of Senate Minority Whip, Darlington Nwokocha, by the Appeal Court on Saturday.
A panel of the Appeal Court sitting in Lagos had declared the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Col. Austin Akobundu (Rtd), as the winner of the February 25 senatorial election held in the senatorial district, overturning Nwokocha’s victory.
The party members, dressed in black attire, displayed placards expressing their discontent with the Appeal Court’s decision. The protest, led by the Deputy Speaker of the State Assembly, Augustine Meregini, began at the party secretariat on Ikot Ekpene Road and proceeded to Aba Road.
Some of the inscriptions on their placards read, ‘Judicial impunity must stop,’ ‘we voted for Darlington Nwokocha and not Col. Austin Akobundu,’ and ‘Darlington’s mandate must be recovered.’
Addressing the party supporters, the party chairman in the state, Chief Ceekay Igara, expressed shock at the court’s judgment and questioned why the same appeal panel upheld the election of the member representing Isiala Ngwa North and South Federal Constituency, Chief Ginger Onwusibe, who had a similar case.
He stated, “We are demanding the details of the judgment to enable our lawyers to study and decide on the next course of action. The section of the electoral act that the panel relied on for the judgment, which pertains to party membership, has already been decided by the Supreme Court as an internal affair of the political party.”