Labour Party candidate, Chief Frank Chinasa in the 2023 National Assembly elections on Friday said he has ended litigation against the Deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Kalu.
Rt Hon. Benjamin Kalu had won the return ticket to represent Bende federal constituency, Abia State at the green chambers of the national assembly
Speaking at a press conference held in Abuja, he said the withdrawal followed appeals from men and women of high repute, religious leaders who intervened, saying the right move was to heed their noble advice.
Recall that soon after the elections, Chinasa filed a petition at the Elections Tribunal sitting in Umuahia, and prayed the court to quash the declaration of Hon. Kalu who is now the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representativesand declare him the actual winner of that election.
But the tribunal in its ruling on August 22, 2023 delivered judgement in Kalu’s favour.
He said “with the pronouncement of the tribunal, the next option available to me is the court of appeal.
“But while everyone expects me to journey up to the appellate court in the struggle, I am here to inform the world that I am no longer interested in taking the matter any further beyond the tribunal. This simply means that I have decided to let go of the case” he said.
Specifically, Chinasa emphasised this is a resolution taken out of brotherly love and sheer understanding of common root and patrimony-the Bende heritage.
He said “calls came to me. Appeals were made. Men and women of high repute, religious and social standing intervened and the right move was to heed their noble advice. I must however stress that this decision is not an act of judicial cowardice or a product of physical persuasion or coercion but a voluntary action that stems from the realm of brotherly love.
“Kalu and I have a history that has run into decades which cannot be ruined by the transient political activities of today. First, we are brothers from Bende. Second, we are good friends and third, we intrinsically share the same objective of good representation of our people.
“I have come to reason that if highly revered people, elders from our State, the south east region and indeed, Nigeria will celebrate Ben and applaud President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the entire members of the Green Chambers of the National Assembly for giving Ndigbo such an position, why then, should his immediate brothers from the same constituency be seen to be the ones pulling him down? This does not make any sense in any conceivable way”.
Meanwhile, Chinasa said “let this not be misconstrued to mean that my going to the tribunal was wrong in the first place. No! I want to categorically submit that it was well within my democratic and constitutional rights and privileges. And even Ben should understand that. What now matters is that we have eventually allowed wisdom and brotherly love to win”.
