A member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Chukwuma Umeoji, and a factional national chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Jude Okeke, have rejected the judgment of the Court of Appeal sitting in Kano on the candidature of the party for the Anambra State governorship poll.
The Appeal Court in Kano on Tuesday set aside the judgment of a Jigawa State High Court which had earlier declared both Umeoji and Okeke governorship candidate and national chairman of the party respectively.
In a statement on Tuesday, by the publicity secretary of the Okeke-led faction, Ikechukwu Chukwunye, he said lawyers to Chief Okeke have been instructed to take all necessary steps to appeal the judgment at the Supreme Court.ADVERTISEMENT
According to him, the judgment was just a mere temporary setback that will be set aside by the Supreme Court as quickly and easily as possible.
He said, “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 organisation 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,” he stated.
Credit: Leadership