Unlawful substitution: Former Air Chief wants Aidoko sacked from Senate

Unlawful substitution: Former Air Chief wants Aidoko sacked from Senate
A former Chief of Air Staff and Fighter Pilot, Air Marshall Isaac Alfa (rtd) has asked a Federal High Court in Abuja to declare him winner of the December 7, 2014 Primary elections of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) for the National Assembly Elections into the Kogi-East Senatorial Zone.

Alfa, in an amended Originating Summons filed on 29th February 2016 by his counsel, Chief Godwin Obla (SAN), asked the court to hold that PDP’s purported submission of the name of Sen Attai Aidoko to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as its candidate for the National Assembly election into the Senate for Kogi-East Senatorial zone to be held on March 28, 2015 or any other date, amounts to gross violation of the constitution and the electoral guidelines for primary election of the PDP as well as the Electoral Act 2010.

Consequently, the plaintiff prayed the court to restrain PDP and INEC from recognizing and dealing with Attai Aidoko or any other person other than the plaintiff, as the party’s candidate for the said election.

Alfa also prayed the court for an order restraining Attai Aidoko from parading himself or holding himself out as the validly elected candidate of the PDP for the Kogi-East Senatorial election adding that the court should also direct PDP and the electoral body to take necessary steps and actions, including listing his name as the PDP Senatorial candidate of the PDP for the election.

“Alternatively, In the event that, before the determination of this suit, the 3rd defendant (Attai Aidoko), whose nomination has, in the interim been wrongly accepted and published by INEC as the candidate of the PDP emerges victorious in the Kogi-East Senatorial electionan the court should make an order confirming the return of the plaintiff as PDP’s lawful aspirant to be nominated as candidate of PDP to be issued with certificate of return by INEC for the Kogi-East Senatorial election to be conducted on the aforesaid date’ he said.

Meanwhile, a counter affidavit filed by Attai Aidoko on Monday said that it is a prerogative of a political party, not a court of law, to determine who the party will field in an election.

According to Aidoko, the only remedy available to the plaintiff, who claimed to have been validly denied nomination by the PDP, is to claim damages against his party and nothing more.

He said under the PDP constitution and the Electoral Guidelines for primary elections 2014, the decision of the National Working Committee, acting on behalf of the National Executive Committee of the party is final and binding on all primary elections matters, that is, on who the party will nominate as its candidate for any elective office.

When the matter came up in the suit, which has the PDP, INEC and Senator Attai Aidoko as defendants, the court adjourned till tomorrow (Thursday) for the PDP to react to the further and better affidavit of the plaintiff filed on Monday.

END