Silas Onu, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate for the February 3 bye-election in Ebonyi South, has disclosed that he is going to appeal the court judgment that sacked him, a few hours before election day.
According to Onu, his disqualification was contrived and deliberately done for political reasons to discourage his supporters.
The Federal High Court sitting in Abakaliki, on Thursday, sacked Silas Onu as the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the Ebonyi South senatorial bye-election.
The court, presided over by Justice Hyeladziya Ngajiwa, ruled that the PDP failed to uphold the required three-man ad-hoc and one-man national delegates who were mandated to vote in the primary election.
The Judge, therefore, ruled that Onu was not properly nominated as the candidate of the PDP for Saturday’s election and should be removed from the INEC portal.
However, in his reaction, Onu has vowed to continue with the electoral process and appeal the ruling of the High Court.
He told his supporters not to be discouraged by the court ruling as the high court is not the final point on such matters.
The PDP candidate urged his supporters to come out and vote for him on election day.
He said, “I am going to appeal the judgment disqualifying me.
“Today, we received a contrived judgment from the federal high court, Abakaliki that PDP did not give INEC 21 days’ notice of congresses for the by-election.
“While we acknowledge that the judgment is contrived and deliberately done for political reasons, we are filing our notice of appeal immediately to ensure that we legally continue our participation in the election.
“Our supporters are called to come out in their numbers and vote for PDP on Saturday, Feb. 3.
“The federal high court is not the final court in pre-election matters and as such our participation is sacrosanct and our votes will count.
“God bless the PDP and the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
The February 3 bye-election in Ebonyi South is to replace David Umahi, who was appointed as Minister of Works by President Bola Tinubu.
