Declare the seat of Senator Ekweremadu empty, the attorney requests in court

 Ogochukwu Onyema, an Enugu-based attorney who comes from the senatorial district of Senator Ike Ekweremadu, a former Deputy Senate President, has petitioned the Federal High Court in Enugu to declare the constituency seat vacant. The court was requested by Ekweremadu's attorney to declare the senator's seat vacant because he is currently being held in the United Kingdom on suspicion of allegedly trafficking in organs. Ekweremadu represents the Enugu West constituency. Onyeama contends that the position cannot stay unfilled while Ekweremadu is still being held in custody. Onyema asked the court to "command and mandate" the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, and PDP to "nominate, and forward" his name to the National Assembly "as a replacement" for Ekweremadu in the legal proceeding with the file number FHC/EN/CS/7/2022 that was filed at the Federal High Court, Enugu. In addition, he requested that the court order and mandate INEC Chairman Prof. Mahmood Yakubu and INEC to "withdraw or revoke, as the case may be, the Certificate of Return originally issued to the third defendant (Ekweremadu) and issue a fresh "Certificate of Return" to him.

In the PDP senatorial primary election, which was held in Awgu, Enugu State, on October 2, 2018, Ekweremadu received 690 votes to win, beating out his closest competitors, Mr. Isaac Okah, who received 84 votes, and Onyema, who received 61 votes to finish in a distant third place. Onyema wants the court to decide, among other things, whether it is intended by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999) as amended in 2018; the Senate Standing Orders 2015 as amended; and the Senate Legislative Calendar 2022 that the seat of Enugu West Senatorial District in the 9th Senate will be declared vacant by default, if the Senator representing is absent without justification from sessions "Whether by virtue of the third defendant's (Ekweremadu's) continuous absence from the Senate since June 22, 2022, or days earlier (when he last attended the Senate sitting), until the date of adaptation of this summons, or any other date thereafter, it could be said that the third defendant is still validly representing the plaintiff (Onyema) and Enugu West Senatorial District, as provided by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Senate Standing Rules," the court wrote. 

The third defendant can be said to have defaulted and been absent from representing the plaintiff and Enugu West Senatorial District in the House of Senate for no just cause, as provided for in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999), based on the heinous allegations leveled against him and his imprisonment at Wandsworth Prison in the United Kingdom since around June 22, 2022, up until the date of adoption of this summons. According to the Senate Standing Order 2015 as amended and the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999) as amended, it is wise and best for the third defendant to sincerely acknowledge that he has defaulted in representation, withdraw from his position, and mandate the first and second defendants (the Senate President and the Senate Minority Leader). The Plaintiff shall receive a Certificate of Return from the Fifth and Sixth Defendants, and from the Seventh and Eighth Defendants.

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