Abia Speaker defies court order, declines inauguration of PDP lawmaker-elect

Aaron Uzodike, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, who was declared the winner of March 18, 2023, House of Assembly election by the Court of Appeal, has again appealed to the Speaker of Abia State House of Assembly, Emmanuel Emereuwa to swear him in as member representing Aba North constituency.

Uzodike, was on November 27, 2023, declared the winner of the election, by the Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos, which also removed Mr Destiny Nwagwu of the Labour Party, LP, from office.

Speaking to journalists in Umuahia on his travails, Uzodike appealed to Governor Alex Otti to obey the law and prevail on the Speaker to inaugurate him without further delay, as according to him, his people have not been represented in the past 5 months.

Displaying his Certificate and CTC of the judgement during the interview, Uzodike said it was shocking that he was yet to be allowed to represent his people despite the Certificate of Return issued to him on December 13, 2023, by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

He said that Abia State High Court sitting in Obehie in Ukwa LGA had also on 19th March, 2024. dismissed a case filed by his opponent, Destiny Nwagwu, where Nwagwu said he was personally investigating his (Uzodike’s) certificates.

Uzodike who said the House had on January 18, 2024, scheduled to inaugurate him, regretted that the Speaker allegedly told him that he could not be sworn in as powers-that-be did not want him to be inaugurated.

“From November 27, 2023 to November 18, 2023, there was no case stopping the Speaker from inaugurating me and presently, there is no court anywhere stopping my inauguration,” he said.

On the recent call by some traditional rulers in Aba for the seat of the Aba North to be declared vacant because of Uzodike’s alleged ill-health, the PDP man said he was never sick as claimed by the monarchs.

He disowned the traditional rulers, saying that some of them were impostors who were hired from another constituency to lie against him.

“On 16th April, 2024, I presented myself to the Abia State House of Assembly ready to do my work healthy and fit but the Speaker did not do the needful,” he lamented.

Uzodike also denied the rumours that he was given a condition to dump PDP for the LP in order to get his Aba North seat, saying that he is still a PDP member and did not enter into any agreement.