By Chuks Onuoha.
The legal adviser to All Progressive Congress, APC in Abia state , Mr Vigilus Nwankwo has advised citizens of Abia, who must have been startled by a judgment delivered against the candidature of High Chief Ikechi Emenike, by Justice Binta Nyako on Friday, not to be worried by such a pronouncement, because it has already been taken care of by previous legal events of superior courts.He further advised them to remain steadfast with the party as the Leader still remains of the Candidate of the party, whose mission is to rescue Abia state from the evil grips of the misrule and bad governance and develop it to the status of number one state in Nigeria.In his legal declaration after the judgment, Nwankwo said that “there is no cause for alarm”, as the unstoppable Emenike still remains at the helm of affairs in the state party hierarchy , and his status as the governorship candidate of the party still remains unchanged despite the judgment.He explained that the Appeal Court had already affirmed him as the duly elected candidate of Abia APC, hence the judgment of a lower court cannot alter the status quo.”In the eye of the law”, he explained, Emenike still remains the candidate of APC in Abia,” he said, adding that the said judgment delivered by Justice Nyako “cannot be enforced or be executed until the final pronouncement by the Supreme Court on the subject matter, which is yet to come.The Court of Appeal in Abuja had on October 14, 2022 upheld the judgment of the Abia State High Court presided by Justice Benson Anya which had on June 24, 2022 affirmed the candidature of Emenike in Suit No HUM/31/2022:IKECHI EMENIKE VS APC & 2 ORS.The appellate court gave the affirmation while dismissing the application filed by Obinna Oriaku Eze seeking to appeal against the judgment delivered on September 2, 2022 by the Appeal Court, Owerri Division in Appeal No. CA/OW/269/2022.”The law is trite that judgments of the appellate courts bind the court and parties,” Nwankwo said, adding that “the judgment of the Federal High Court cannot override and is not superior to the said three judgments of the Court of Appeal”.”Contrary to the judgment of Justice Binta Nyako today, the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court had settled it in so many decisions that INEC and the court cannot determine who is the candidate of a political party where and when there are two competing primaries”.The legal adviser therefore declared that “there is no cause for alarm”, adding that “the mission to rescue and rebuild Abia state by High Chief Ikechi Emenike is unstoppable”.In another development, the attempt by the Abia State chapter of the All Peoples Party (APP) to nullify the governorship primary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was nullified on Friday as the Federal High Court in Umuahia dismissed the case.The also Court awarded N2 million as costs against APP, ordering the party to pay N500, 000 to each of the four defendants.It could be recalled that APP had instituted a case against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and three others, including APC, and High Chief Ikechi Emenike asking the Court to declare the APC governorship primary held on May 26, 2022 as null and void.It went further to claim that Abia APC primary was not monitored by INEC and that the delegates that voted in the said primary were not elected.Ruling on the case marked FHC/UM/ES/160/22, Justice Evelyn Anyadike held that the plaintiff lacked locus standi to challenge the outcome of the primary election of a rival party.He dismissed the case, stating that it could “not activate jurisdiction” on the matter since the plaintiff failed to show that that it was an aspirant in the APC primary.Justice Anyadike wondered why APP should be bothered about the primary election of a rival party knowing that it is a domestic affair of the party concerned.The judge upbraided the APP for abandoning the log in its eyes and “started chasing shadows in order to remove a spec, if any, in the eye of the defendant”. He further held that the post-election issue was status bound and should have been filed within 14 days whereas APP came to court to meddle in the affairs of APC 72 days after the primary election was held, an activity that should be described as afterthought. END
