PDP condemns Abia Speaker for delaying Uzodike’s inauguration despite court order

The six-month wait for the inauguration of Hon. Aaron Uzodike, who was re-elected to serve as the member representing Aba North State Constituency in the 2023 elections, has infuriated the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Abia State.

Despite the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) issuing a Certificate of Return on December 13, 2023, in compliance with a court decision, the party claimed that the inauguration was unnecessarily delayed.

The vice chairman of the PDP in Abia, Abraham Amah, denounced the Abia State House of Assembly Speaker, Rt Hon. Emmanuel Emereuwa, for failing to swear in the re-elected lawmaker as time was running out in an interview with journalists in Umuahia.

Given that members of other political parties who were proclaimed winners by the Court of Appeal have been inaugurated, Amah characterised it as a violation of democratic ideals. He emphasised that, of all the candidates who ran and won, Aaron Uzodike might be the only one from the previous election who hasn’t been sworn in.

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After it was established that Aaron Uzodike had won the election, he claims the Independent National Electoral Commission followed the Court of Appeal’s instructions and provided a Certificate of Return within a week.

It is a government that makes space for checks and balances, Amah stated. Do you know that a member of the state House of Assembly representing the Aba North State Constituency was involved in one of the cases that the Appeal Court handled? This comes about seven months after Aaron Uzodike was granted a favourable judgement by the Court of Appeal.

“After seven months, the administration still hasn’t permitted Aaron Uzodike to take office as the House of Assembly’s new leader. What kind of governance is that then?

The non-All Progressives Congress members who were proclaimed the winners by the same Court of Appeal in the Senate, the House of Representatives, and the lower and higher chambers have been inaugurated, if you look at the centre. Despite their statements being contrary to the APC’s objectives, those individuals were inaugurated.

However, it was remembered that Rt. Hon. Emmanuel Emereuwa, the Speaker of the Abia State House of Assembly, had revealed intentions to formally swear Uzodike in as a lawmaker.

This was said by Emeruwa at a press conference held to commemorate the first year of the 8th Abia House of Assembly. She explained that the delay was caused in part by the different legal actions taken by Labour Party candidates Uzodike and Destiny Nwagwu.