The Supreme Court yesterday confirmed Theodore Orji as the Peoples Democratic Party’s candidate for the April 2011 gubernatorial election in Abia State.
The five man panel of justices led by Justice Afolabi Fabiyi unanimously dismissed an appeal by Chief Ikechi Emenike who had asked the court to hold that he was the one who won the party’s primary and should therefore be declared the party’s candidate.
The court held that Emenike failed to substantiate his claim that he was the duly selected person to run for the office of governor under the platform of the PDP.
Emenike had claimed in his suit that he was screened, cleared and duly elected at a primary election conducted by the State Executive Committee of the PDP after the state’s exco modified the party’s Electoral Guidelines.
But Justice Fabiyi said that the PDP’s Constitution and Guidelines did not confer any power on the state exco to modify the guidelines.
He also held that that the state exco did not have the power to set up a gubernatorial screening committee.