|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
BY SUNNY A. DAVID
The parallel National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), and the factional Governorship candidate, Chukwuma Umeoji have rejected the judgment of the Court of Appeal Kano which recognized Chief Victor Ike Oye as the authentic National Chairman of the party.
The Appeal Court in Kano, on Tuesday, nullified the judgment of a Jigawa State High Court presided by Justice Musa Ubale which had earlier sacked Chief Oye as APGA National Chairman, saying the Jigawa State High Court lacked jurisdiction to adjudicate the matter.
The Special Panel of the Court led by Justice Haruna Tsammani held that Justice Ubale of Birkin Kudu Division of Jigawa State High Court was biased in the manner the case was handled having contravened section 36 of the 1999 Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria for not granting Chief Oye fair hearing before a Court or Tribunal and lacking jurisdiction to adjudicate the matter.
Justice Tsammani who led two other judges, Justice Maiwada Abdullahi and Justice Usman Musale, in the unanimous judgment, declared Chief Okeke and his group are “meddlesome interlopers”, and ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC, not to recognize Chief Okeke’s purported faction for being a product of rascality of politicians.
The three-man Panel agreed with the appellant’s counsel, Barrister Wole Olanipekun, that APGA National Leadership matter is not a pre-election matter because a matter cannot become a pre-election matter at the Court of Appeal that was not a pre-election matter and filed within 14 days at the lower court.
The Panel equally punctured Okeke’s argument that Oye’s tenure had elapsed, clarifying that the alleged APGA Convention that produced him was held in 2019, but not 2021, declaring that a time frame doesn’t apply.
But in a swift reaction, the former National Chairman of APGA, and one-time Senator (Anambra Central), Chief Victor Umeh described the Court of Appeal judgment as landmark, revealing that the attempt to stop Chief Oye was targeted at the authentic candidate of APGA in the November 6, 2021 Governorship election, Professor Chukwuma Soludo.
Chief Umeh is the Chairman of Peace and Reconciliation Committee of the party observed that his Committee is not seeing the Court of Appeal judgment in the negative, but as an action taken by Okeke and his group aimed at ventilation of their grievances.
He advised Chief Okeke and Chief Umeoji to forget the move to go to the Supreme Court, stressing that it may not derail and distract APGA from forging ahead with Prof. Soludo’s campaign to succeed Chief Obiano as Governor come 2022.
The former National Chairman of APGA noted that losing a case by Okeke and Umeoji is not a big case, even as he pointed out that he anticipated Okeke’s defeat in the court.
He urged INEC to publish Prof. Soludo’s name as the candidate of APGA, stating that there is nothing more that can sustain the life of any of their future suits with the latest disbandment of the Okeke-led faction.
In disregard to Chief Umeh’s appeal, Chief Okeke and Chief Umeoji through the National Publicity Secretary of the Okeke-led faction, Mr. Ikechukwu Chukwunye, are heading for the apex court.
Mr. Chukwunye, in a statement, a copy of which was made available to our correspondent disclosed that lawyers to Okeke had instructed that all necessary steps be taken to appeal the judgment at the Supreme Court.
The statement described the judgment as a mere temporary setback that will be set aside by the Supreme Court as quickly and easily as possible.
The statement reads: “The Hon. Chukwuma Umeoji campaign will therefore continue unhindered pending the judgment of the Supreme Court where victory is assured. All supporters and party members are therefore urged to remain peaceful and law-abiding while maintaining the confidence level as there is nothing that can stop an idea whose time has come.
“The campaign organization insists that from the reports from the legal team, the Special Panel of the Court of Appeal turned law upside down by sitting on appeal over its earlier ruling and setting that ruling aside without consequential justice. “How could the panel rule on the 30th of July, 2021 that the matter before it was a pre-election matter thereby struck out the appeal by Chief Edozie Njoku filed on the 22nd July, 2021 that it was filed out of time and then come today to now rule that the case is no longer a pre-election matter just to allow Victor Oye’s appeal that was filed on the 30th July, 2021.
“The Supreme Court will gladly remind the Court of Appeal that consistency in its ruling is one of the core pillars of our judicial system and that a Court cannot sit on appeal over itself nor arbitrarily overrule itself.
“The Supreme Court being the highest in the land will indeed have an opportunity to do substantial justice and restore the ticket of Hon. Chukwuma Umeoji as the APGA Governorship candidate and High Chief Jude Okeke as the National Chairman of the Party,” it stated.
