Following the judgment of the Elections Petitions Tribunal sitting in Umuahia, in favour of the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Benjamin Kalu, the Labour party candidate for Bende Federal Constituency of Abia State in the February 25, Frank Chinasa said he was persuaded not to pursue his case beyond the tribunal.
Chinasa, while addressing a press conference on Friday in Abuja recalled that soon after the elections, he filed a petition at the Elections Petitions Tribunal sitting in Umuahia, Abia and prayed the court to quash the declaration of the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Benjamin Kalu by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and declare him the actual winner of that election.
His words: “He said after the tribunal in its ruling on August 22, 2023 delivered judgment in Kalu’s favour, which was not what he expected; upholding his victory. 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.”
Chinasa noted that it wasn’t a decision made just on the heels of the tribunal’s judgment, rather it was rather a resolution taken out of brotherly love and sheer understanding of the common root and patrimony.
He stated: “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.”
Chinasa stressed that he has come to reason that if highly revered people, elders from the State, the South-east region and indeed, Nigeria will celebrate Kalu and applaud President Bola Tinubu for giving Ndigbo such an position, saying why then, should his immediate brothers from the same constituency be seen to be the ones pulling him down.
“But then, 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,” he said.