APGA: Umeh, Okwu return to Abuja court Feb 26 By Joe Nwankwo/Abuja A Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday fixed February 26 for ruling on the application for a stay of execution, staying its January 15 judgment, which had ousted Victor Umeh and Sani Shinkafi as National Chairman and National Secretary of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) respectively. It would be recalled that the court, presided over by Justice Abdul Kafarati, had in his judgment named Maxi Okwu as the National Chairman of the party. But, APGA in a swift reaction, filed a motion for stay of execution, an application for an order of injunction retraining Okwu and his co-plaintiffs from interfering in the leadership of the party pending the appeal it filed challenging the judgment of the court. Moving the motion for a stay of execution of the judgment, counsel to Umeh and Shinkafi, Patrick Ikwueto (SAN), had told the court that “the application is seeking for two reliefs, a stay and an order of injunction pending appeal, there are seven grounds in support of the applicant and an affidavit in support of the application deposed to by Chinedu Eze, we seek indulgence to rely on all the affidavits and exhibits and as required by this court we have also filed a written address in support of our application we urged you to grant his application. “There are four grounds of appeal on the issue of jurisdiction, they deal with the competence of the suit, the appeal is arguable and raises substantial issues for determination see Section 116 of the evidence act, the court will then see that in the light of the conflicting affidavit before you, the Court of Appeal will be persuaded rightly that your lordship ought to have taken an oral argument in resolving the issue that was before you. “The important thing is for the court to determine that an applicant that is asking for a stay is not a trespasser, what the court should determine is what will be the injustice if the judgment is stayed, the court should consider the competing rights of the parties, the applicants were disputable were in office before that judgment and in that case the status quo in the party before that judgment was that they were not in office and not the plaintiffs so maintaining the status quo will be in the interest of justice. “The court is entitled to look at the documents in the court’s file while writing the judgment irrespective of the fact that the document was not tendered”, he added, Counsel to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Olawale Daudu, did not raise any objection to the application for a stay of execution he urged the court to grant the application in the interest of justice. But, Oba Maduabuchi, counsel for Okwu, in his objection, stated that their opposition to the application for a stay of execution is premised in the grounds that the court cannot stay its own judgment. Specifically, Justice Kafarati had in his judgment declared that the tenure of the Umeh-led faction had constitutionally expired and ordered it dissolved forthwith.
Posted on: Wed, 29 Jan 2014 07:24:12 +0000