New Telegraph

APGA’s foreboding fate in the 2021 guber poll

The anxiety of the Anambra electorate got to its crescendo on August 7 when the Independent National Electoral Commission (IÑEC), failed to publish the names of candidates for the November 6 governorship election in the state.

 

According to the INEC time table, the final list of candidates was to be published on the said date and campaigns were to commence the following day. But this was not to be as even the INEC website was silent on the list of candidates without any reason.

 

But from all indications one can refer to the plethora of litigations in both the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Grand Alliance APGA.

 

Two days later, the Kano Division of the Appeal Court delivered a judgement which quashed the judgement of the Jigawa High Court that upheld Chief Jude Okeke as National Chairman of APGA as against Chief Victor Oyeh. By that judgement, Hon Chukwuma Umeoji became the candidate of APGA against Prof Charles Soludo who the party nominated as candidate.

 

The Special Panel of the Court of Appeal Kano began by first dismissing the preliminary objection of Garba Aliyu, as argued by D.D. Dodo SAN. The court held that the preliminary objection was misconceived and therefore dismissed it.

 

Having dismissed the objection, the Court of Appeal considered the merit of the application for leave to appeal, filed by APGA and its National Chairman, Oyeh.

 

According to the ruling, the Court of Appeal in Kano granted the party and Oyeh the requisite Leave to Appeal against the Jigawa judgment. The court further made the following specific orders.

 

“Accelerated hearing of the appeal is granted. The appellants have 24 hours to file and serve their appellants brief of argument.

 

The respondents have three days only to respond to the appellants briefs and weekends were included in the three days.” Eddie Njoku who is both National chairman and candidate of the party had also gone to court, praying that he should be joined in the matter but it was thrown out.

 

The court dismissed Njoku’s application to appeal the judgement of the Jigawa High Court. The court told him that he woke up very late in his claim to be an interested party to the suit.

 

Reacting to the judgement of the Appeal Court, the Special Adviser to Governor Willie Obiano on political matter Bar Ifeatu Obiokoye said that the three-man Special Panel, led by Tsammani JCA, began by holding that the suit at the trial court was a leadership tussle in APGA. The court stated that by the clear provisions of Section 285(14)(a)-(c) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended); the suit is not a pre-election matter.

 

He said the Court of Appeal relied on the binding recent decisions of the Supreme Court delivered on March 5, 2021 in Igo Aguma v APC and APC v. Dele Moses which arose from APC crisis in Rivers State, to firmly hold that the suit at the trial court which led to the instant appeal, was never a pre-election matter as defined by the Constitution and upheld by the Supreme Court.

 

“On that premise, the purported preliminary objections of the 1st and 2nd respondents, Garba Aliyu and Jude Okeke were dismissed as grossly misconceived. Not being a pre-election matter, the court found the arguments of the 1st and 2nd respondents that the appeal of APGA and Oyeh was filed out of time, to be grossly misconceived.

 

“The court also took judicial notice of the judgment of Anambra State High Court, delivered on November 18, 2020, which affirmed the validity and subsistence of APGA National Convention of May 31 2019 in Awka. “All the five issues for determination, by the appellants were resolved in their favour, leading to the appeal being wholly allowed.

 

The proceedings and judgment of Musa Ubale J. of Jigawa State High Court was declared a nullity and accordingly quashed,” he said. On the sister appeal numbered as Appeal No. CA/KN/121/2021, which the 1st and 2nd respondents (Aliyu and Okeke) filed to perpetuate the Jigawa judgement, the Court of Appeal determined that the appeal is spent and deemed it as an academic sojourn and accordingly struck it out vide a Judgment delivered by Maiwada Abdullahi JCA.

 

Former National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Sen. Victor Umeh, described the Appeal Court judgement as redemption of the judiciary. “We were convinced that the High Court judgment of Burnin Kudu in Jigawa State should have been a nullity, but some people including the INEC used it to torment us.

 

“Not only has the judiciary redeemed itself, it has also shown that it is the hope of the people. Nothing in that judgement (Jigawa State) should be allowed to be alive. The judges of the Court of Appeal were thorough and there was no flaw in it. “With this judgement, we have now rebounded. Previously we had said Soludo will contest and it has come to pass. He is our candidate and the person that the party nominated.

 

As the Chairman of the Peace and Reconciliation Committee in our party, I want to call on Umeoji to come over to the party.

 

“We supported him when it was necessary to support him, but now the party has resolved that another person should be the candidate, and we are calling on him to come back. We are not seeing him as being defeated, rather we are calling on him not to strain himself further by going to the Supreme Court.”

 

“We saw the judgement coming, and it was based on sound principles of law. The attempt was simply to derail the momentum of APGA, but the judiciary intervened. Let’s not lend credence to non-existing problems. Oye leadership has been in place all the time, and will always be.”

 

“Anambra people should understand why they should vote for APGA. We have solid achievements here in the state and I don’t see why any sensible person would want to vote out APGA.

 

APGA may not have made everybody happy, but I can score APGA 85 percent. “As for Umeoji and his people, it is normal for them not to want to accept defeat, but in the coming days the reality will dawn on him. We are offering him the opportunity to return to the party, else he would look back one day and not see his supporters,”

 

As expected, the duo of Okeke and Umeoji through the National Publicity Secretary of the Okeke-led faction, Ikechukwu Chukwunye, are heading for the Supreme Court.

 

Chukwunye disclosed that Okeke’s lawyers had instructed that all necessary steps be taken to appeal the judgment at the Supreme Court.

 

He described the judgment as a mere temporary setback that would be set aside by the Supreme Court as quickly and easily as possible, adding that Umeoji’s campaign will therefore continue unhindered pending the judgment of the Supreme Court where they believe victory is assured.

 

It urged all supporters and party members 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 July 30, 2021 that the matter before it was a preelection matter thereby striking out the appeal by Chief Edozie Njoku filed on July 22, 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. However, what has kept judicial watchers guessing is the actual fate of Umeoji and Soludo in respect of the Appeal Court judgement.

 

A section of judicial watchers contend that the Appeal Court did not issue a consequential order directing INEC to withdraw the name of Umeoji from the list of candidates and substitute it with that of Soludo and Soludo’s lawyers did not in their prayers ask the court to do so.

 

But the issue of consequential order does not seem to come into the picture because on the 2nd day of July INEC received the name of Soludo and his running mate with the three statutory forms which the pin number was given to the National Chairmen Victor Oyeh.

 

It was expected that INEC should publish the name of Soludo as at July 15, but the commission did not do so until July 16 after Umeoji faction had obtained the Jigawa High Court judgement which ordered that his name should be published by the commission.

 

The Appeal court of Kano Division quashed the Jigawa High Court judgement which withdrew Soludo’s name from INEC as the candidate, hence Soludo does not need any consequential order for his name that is already with INEC to have his name on the list of candidates.

 

In the forgoing, the contention that Soludo’s name would not be published by INEC goes to no issue in view of the fact that his name was already in the list before Umeoji came into the picture and the Supreme Court cannot entertain fresh pleadings or submissions but to determine if the Appeal Court discharged it’s functions on points of law.

 

For Umeoji, it has been a legal battle too many and having subjected himself to the primary election of APGA under the leadership of Victor Oyeh who sold nomination form to him, political watchers are of the view that his actions by sacking Oyeh and presenting one Jude Okeke as National Chairman who neither sold form to him nor signed his form amounts to a somersault.

 

Similarly Umeoji who had also appealed the outcome of the party screening committee and was awaiting its report took a legal option which today still lingering up to the Supreme Court.

Read Previous

La Liga: Benzema double helps Real to winning start at Alaves

Read Next

Ligue 1: Messi watches on as PSG battle to win

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *