The federal High court in Owerri, presided has adjourned the suit with No FHC/Ow/CS/33/2022 instituted by the member, representing Orlu state constituency, Hon Pascal Okolie against Comrade Precious Nwadike, a contestant for the Orlu State assembly seat on the platform of Labour Party October,4,2022.
When the matter was called up on Tuesday, September, 27 Pascal Okolie’s lawyer, Aririguzo announced appearance, while Nwadike’s lawyer, A Nwachukwu, who was represented by a junior lawyer in his law firm also announced appearance.
Thereafter, the presiding judge after listening to submissions from counsels on both side adjourned the case to October 4, 2022, to enable all the parties in the suit to be served.
Recall that the Orlu lawmaker while responding to a report in the Nigeria Watchdog newspaper edition of Tuesday, September,6, 2022, captioned, ‘’ fear grips Orlu PDP Candidate, as he runs to court to stop Nwadike’’, described the Watchdog report as very insulting and uncalled for. According to him, ‘’the allegations by Precious Nwadike are very insulting and shouldn’t be an issue for political discussion in Orlu at a time like this. Why on earth should I leave more important issues that I am engaged in to waste valuable time and resource in dragging Nwadike to court?’’
‘’I wonder what has become of my good friend Precious Nwadike, why should I take him to court? Did he offend me. We are not business partners, I am a PDP man and by God’s grace and the magnanimity of the party, I am the candidate for 2023 state house of assembly polls. Someone told me recently that Precious is now in Labour party but I didn’t believe it. Precious is a strong member of the PDP and contested PDP primary election with me. I am not aware he is in Labour Party and I am waiting for INEC to publish names of other candidates any moment from now for me to be sure who my fellow contestants are. Why then should I take him to court?’’, he queried.
According to Okolie, ‘’court processes are not hidden. They are part of democratic processes and have the names of the plaintiffs and defendants among other details bodly written. If Nwadike is sure of what he is saying among other efforts to draw attention and public sympathy, let him make public the court summons, among others’’.
A chieftain of the PDP in Orlu LGA who spoke to this reporter shortly after the matter was adjourned, said, ‘’honestly I am disappointed that Pascal Okolie who claims to be an honorable member could resort to telling such bare-faced lies when he knows that the truth will certainly be known’’. He dragged Nwadike to court, yet he publicly denied it’’.
Recall, that Pascal Okolie in a report published in the Lead Express Newspaper edition of September, 7, 2022 was quoted as saying, ‘’I am too busy to drag Nwadike to court’’.
Since the matter was called up in court and adjourned till October,4, 2022, it has become a topic of discussion among the Orlu electorate who have continued to berate and express disgust over Okolie’s conduct.According to some PDP leaders who spoke to this reporter on condition of anonymity ,there is nothing wrong going to court if you feel the other person poses threat to your ambition but why denying that he didn’t go to court whereas the court process filed has him as plaintiff.
‘’If Pascal could publicy lie about such a trivial issue, what is the guarantee that his electoral promises are real. How can we trust, believe and give him our mandate again despite his initial abysmal inept and ineffective performance’’.
His attitude has given ample credence to the earlier report in the Nigeria Watchdog newspaper that he is not only jittery but afraid of competiting with more credible, vibrant, focused and result- oriented candidates with impeccable track records, impressive antecedents and verifiable record of achievements’’.
