Abia State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has congratulated Col. Austin Akobundu, the party’s senatorial candidate in the Abia Central senatorial zone, on his victory at the Appeal Court.

This is even as the PDP said it has uncovered a plot by the Labour Party, LP, to cause mayhem in the state, following the removal of its candidate, Darlington Nwokocha, who was the Senate Minority Chief Whip before the judgement that saw Akobundu defeat him.

Recall that Mr Darlington Nwokocha of LP was declared the winner of the Abia Central Senatorial election following the February 25, 2023, National Assembly elections.

This led to a petition by Akobundu at the Abia State National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal which equally upheld the election of Nwokocha.

Dissatisfied with the judgement of the Tribunal, Akobundu appealed the judgment of the lower court at the Court of Appeal which vacated the judgment of the Tribunal and pronounced Akobundu as the authentic winner of the Abia Central Senatorial zone election.

Elder Abraham Amah, Abia PDP Vice Chairman/Acting State Publicity Secretary said his party has come across two disturbing documents with one of the documents in circulation on social media from the Labour Party in Ikwuano, calling on its members to a solidarity rally in black clothes to protest the judgement of the Court of Appeal.

According to Amah, “This is unheard of in the history of our democracy that a political party would call its members to protest the judgement of a court.

“Another document is the press conference addressed by the Chairman of Abia Labour Party, Mr. Cheeky Igara wherein he assumed the position of Judge Extraordinaire to lecture Abians, Nigerians and the press on why the judgement of a validly constituted court should not stand because a member of his party was removed from office.

Amah said that it is extremely disturbing to hear the Abia LP Chairman refer to a judgement of a court of competent jurisdiction with derogatory words like, “the rascality of the judiciary, especially muscling judgements, divisive judgements.”