Honorable Bright Ngene, the Labour Party candidate for Enugu South Urban State Constituency in the State House of Assembly, has raised the alarm over an alleged conspiracy between the Executive and Judiciary arms of the state government to imprison him.
Ngene claims that the plot is a retaliation for his insistence on the mandate he won in the March 18, 2023 House of Assembly Election.
He alleges that the Chief Judge of Enugu State, Justice A. R. Ozoemena; the Deputy Chief Registrar, Chijioke Agbo; and Magistrate E. D. Onwu have colluded to disregard a pending petition before the National Judicial Council, which has jurisdiction over the case.
Ngene, who was initially declared the winner of the election and sworn into the House of Assembly, had his victory overturned by a court petition filed by his rival, Hon Sam Ngene of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Despite two inconclusive re-run elections for the disputed polling units, the third re-run scheduled for June 8 was canceled without notice to Ngene.
He is now seeking urgent intervention to prevent what he perceives as ‘gross miscarriage of justice” aimed at ending his political and legal career.
In his petition to the NJC, Ngene alleged that, “There is corruptive agreement between the Honourable Chief Judge of Enugu State, His Lordship A. R Ozoemena; the Deputy Chief Registrar N.L. Chijioke Agbo; His Worship E. D. Onwu, Esq.; and the Enugu State government to, at all costs or willy nilly, put me behind bars before a re-run is conducted over my seat in the Enugu State House of Assembly.
“Otherwise, why are these parties applying impunity in continuing with the trial when the NJC has accepted custody of the matter? The ideal thing is that parties in this matter should relax for NJC to decide, but they are rushing the matter to put me behind bars and go ahead to conduct the re-run election.
“I seek the NJC to save me from oppression, persecution, and impeding wrongful conviction bathed by corruption and obvious abuse of judicial office and power.
“Unless the National Judicial Council intervenes, the Honourable Chief Judge of Enugu State, the Deputy Chief Registrar, and His Worship E. D Onwu will wrongfully and corruptly destroy my ambition to continue to be in the House of Assembly of Enugu State and dent my political and legal career with conviction,” Ngene petitioned.
