A human rights lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, has advised the Labour Party (LP) and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, to take a lesson from the African Action Congress (AAC) never to ignore the antics of usurpers within the party.
Amid leadership crisis rocking the Labour Party with the suspension of the party’s National Chairman, Julius Abure and some other national leaders with court order, Inibehe recounted how a suspended and subsequently expelled member of the ACC connived with supposed legal representative of the party in 2019 to thwart the party’s petition against Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State in the 2019 governorship election petition tribunal.
The lawyer recounted that in 2019, one Leonard Nzenwa, initially the AAC National Secretary before his suspension and subsequent expulsion, obtained a questionable judgment from the High Court which declared him as the Acting National Chairman of the AAC.
He recalled that Nzenwa’s first task was to take the faulty judgment to the Rivers State Governorship Election Tribunal where he debriefed Tawo Tawo (SAN), the counsel representing the AAC and its candidate in the Petition filed by AAC and its gubernatorial candidate, Mr Awara, against Governor Wike.
“Leonard then engaged one Henry Bello to represent AAC. Bello is the same lawyer who handled the suit that barred the APC from filing candidates in the 2019 elections in Rivers State. Henry Bello aligned with Wike and PDP at the Tribunal, and prayed for dismissal of the petition.
“Thus, the lawyer who claimed to be representing the AAC argued against the petition filed by the AAC and her gubernatorial candidate. This was after the initial attempt to have the petition withdrawn and dismissed had failed. The AAC candidate had to pursue the petition alone.”
According to Inibehe, under Section 133 of the Electoral Act, an election petition can be presented by either the political party or the candidate. The party and its candidate can present a joint petition; this is the practice and best approach.
He warned that “The Labour Party should not ignore the antics of usurpers,” adding that “If they’re sponsored by people with vested interest in the petition filed by the LP and Obi, they may attempt to destroy the petition.
“They’ll play the Nzenwa/Bello/PDP script in Rivers. If they can’t withdraw the petition, they’ll use the party’s name against Obi at the Court.
“It took a long and spirited legal battle before Sowore and the AAC were able to reclaim the party’s control from Nzenwa and chase the usurpers away. I know how stressful it was for us to get reprieve from the Court of Appeal.
“How will a candidate be able to properly make out a case, when his own party is arguing in the same court that the petition has no merit and should be dismissed?
“It was orchestrated to frustrate the petition. The Labour Party should be vigilant.”