With the expulsion slammed on Senator Chimaroke Nnamani by the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, the senator will not be eligible to contest the February 25 general elections in Enugu east senatorial zone.
The constitution is clear that a candidate of an election must belong to a political party. The Supreme Court in plethora of cases have stated that it is the political party and not candidate that wins election.
In Wada v. Yahaya Bello (2017) the Apex Court reiterated and upheld its earlier position in Amaechi vs Omehia case when it held that;
“A political party is an abstraction. It has to canvass for votes through its members as agents, in the same way it contests, wins or loses elections through a candidate it nominates who acts as its agents. There is no provision for independent candidates. The candidates nominated to contest at an election by his party acts as an agent of his party. He is, as it were, an agent of a disclosed principal and as far as third parties are involved, benefits and liabilities accruing to the candidate (as agent) belong to his party (the disclosed principal).”
In February 2022, INEC declared the APC as the winner of the chairmanship election conducted in Abaji Area Council of Abuja but due to a legal tussle over the party’s aspirant, no candidate was declared the winner of the election. The INEC Returning Officer for Abaji Area Council said that it would not be legitimate to declare any of the aspirants as the winner of the election. He announced that, “We cannot declare a candidate winner in Abaji because the winning party (APC) does not have a candidate here, the case is still in court.” He said that a winner would be announced after the resolution of the pending intra party dispute by the Supreme Court. Up till now, the winner of the election has not been declared as the case has not been determined.
The implication here is that since PDP has expelled the candidate it submitted to INEC in Enugu east senatorial zone, the party has lost the opportunity to substitute him because the window of substitution has closed.
Chimaroke Nnamani can not also stand for the said election on February 25, 2023 since PDP can no longer sponsor him in the election.
A combined reading of Section 221 of the 1999 Constitution will help us more as it relates to the pronouncements of the Supreme Court in Faleke v. INEC (2016).
The Supreme court held that it is the political party that stands for election, that votes scored in election belong to the political party and that the candidate nominated to contest at an election by his party acts only as the agent of his party.
Therefore, any vote casts for PDP or Senator Nnamani on February 25 is a waste. By that expulsion, the party has forfeited its right to participate in the February 25 election in Enugu east senatorial zone.
Even though the party can not withdraw his nomination, it is concluded that as at the time of the election, ‘candidate Chimaroke Nnamani’ does not belong to PDP or any other political party and can not be declared winner with votes cast for PDP.
AIF Media