The Aaron Uzodike Campaign Organization has reacted to a publication where Hon Christian Ikechukwu stated that Hon Uzodike Aaron can never be sworn in to represent the Aba North State Constituency in the Abia State House of Assembly.
Reacting to this, Chief Chidi Agbawo, the Director General of the Aaron Uzodike Campaign Organization, stated inter alia:
“We have read a jaundiced analysis made by one Christian Ikechukwu in the case between the Hon Uzodike Aaron and the Hon Destiny Nwagwu for the seat of the member representing Aba North State Constituency, and find it ridiculous.
Ordinarily, we would not have dignified Christian Ikechukwu’s ill-conceived analysis with a response, but for the fact that we owe the public, especially the Aba North State constituents, a duty to set the record straight.
First, we wish to advise Christian Ikechukwu to stop comparing his ill-fated case against Ifeanyi Isikaku with that of the Hon Uzodike Aaron, as no two cases are the same in law. Stating that he was not sworn in after a court declared him winner of an election, is an open admittance of his own weakness and cowardice. May we remind him that the Hon Uzodike Aaron is not a weakling like him. As an ardent believer in the rule of law, the Hon Uzodike Aaron will explore all legal alternatives available to him to ensure that the Appeal Court’s judgement of 27th November, 2023, which declared him the legally-recognized winner of the March 18, 2023 Aba North State Constituency election, is obeyed.
We view it as mischievous that Ikechukwu Christian, for reasons of seeking political relevance and currying the favour of the ruling party, has chosen the path to infamy to twist the account of the proceedings of the Court of Appeal which sat on 27th February, 2024 in suit number CA/OW/47M/2024 as filed by the Hon Uzodike Aaron.
We wish to state for the upteempth time that there was NEVER a time it was said by any of the Justices of the Appeal Court that sat over the matter that the Hon Uzodike Aaron cannot be sworn in. What the distinguished justice said was that it was not envisaged, during the November 27, 2023 judgement, that the Speaker would refuse to swear in the Hon Uzodike Aaron after seeing a Certificate of Return validly issued to him by INEC.
It is also important to set the record straight that the Hon Uzodike Aaron voluntarily applied for the withdrawal of the said contempt suit against the Speaker as a result of the fact that he was informed by the speaker of a pending suit on the matter at the Abia State High Court which had constrained him from swearing Uzodike in, hence the matter was struck out. The application for the withdrawal, which was done in good faith, was to allow for the dispensation of the said suit at the Abia State High Court.
To us, there is absolutely nothing that is holding the speaker from doing the needful, except if he has chosen to be wicked as to deny any other Aba-la-Ohazu son or daughter the opportunity of becoming a member of the Abia State House of Assembly, particularly from the Aba North State Constituency. But we are confident that Mr speaker, as a lawmaker, will always obey the laws of the land since all positions are creations of the law
It is, therefore, total falsehood and mischievous of Ikechukwu Christian to state that the court declared that Uzodike cannot be sworn in. Such a declaration only exists in the imagination of Ikechukwu Christian.
As for Ikechukwu Christian’s assertion that the Hon Destiny Nwagwu remains the Assembly member till 2027, we challenge the Hon Destiny Nwagwu to join the sitting of the House or attend any of its official functions, and risk imprisonment.
It is a settled matter the Hon Uzodike Aaron is the Aba North State Constituency member-elect. The Speaker can only succeed in delaying his swearing-in, but cannot stop it. The gap between Hon Uzodike Aaron and his return to the Abia State House of Assembly is very tiny. The swearing-in of Uzodike Aaron is imminent. The sooner Ikechukwu Christian and his co-travellers realize this, the better for them.
