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Court of Appeal Enugu division reinstates Victor Umeh as national chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance

|  By Anayo Ezugwu  |  Jul. 29, 2013 @ 01:00 GMT

AFTER months of legal battle and tussle over the soul of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, an Appeal Court sitting in Enugu, on July 15 nullified the judgment of the Enugu State High Court which on February 8 sacked Victor Umeh as the party’s national chairman, insisting that Umeh remains the authentic chairman of the party. In a unanimous decision, the appellate court quashed the judgment by Justice Innocent Umezulike, of Enugu High Court, which nullified the February 10, 2011, convention of the party. The convention produced Umeh and other members of the party’s National Working Committee, NWC.

Delivering the lead judgment, Justice Tom Yakubu, overruled all the grounds of the preliminary objection filed by Jude Okuli, the respondent. He said the lower court had no jurisdiction over the matter as the respondent had no locus standi to sue. “It is not the duty of the court to scout for evidence to aid the case of the plaintiff. It is not the duty of the court to arrogate jurisdiction to itself,” he said.

The judge said the appeal filed by Umeh did not constitute an abuse of court process as the respondent claimed. The judge also said the lower court dissipated its energy in considering his locus standi and added that it was not the duty of the lower court to scout for evidence to aid the case of the plaintiff.

In agreement with the lead judgement, Justice Paul Galinge, chairman of the panel of judges, said if a court was not competent to hear a matter, it was a waste of time to hear and determine the matter. “A court should not award that which was not claimed in pleadings by parties. A court is not a charitable organisation. This order was made without jurisdiction. The order is a nullity,” he said.

Umeh said after the judgement that the decision of the court had rekindled his confidence in the Nigerian judiciary. He attributed his victory to God and the tremendous support he enjoyed from party members. He said he was happy with the resolution of the crisis in the party in his favour, saying that finally, the party has been freed from all encumbrances. All those who listened to the ruling of the Appeal Court heard that all the decisions against me by the Enugu Chief Judge have been set aside. All our grounds of appeal were successful; that the Chief Judge of Enugu State has no business persecuting me; God has vindicated me and APGA today. We thank God Almighty. Before we leave this arena, may I thank the Nigerian judiciary, this has restored our confidence in the judiciary. This is a case of David and Goliath. We did not have money, big pockets but God gave us victory because we have God. From today, by the decision handed down by this Court of Appeal, our party is coming back,” he said.

He promised that APGA would win the forthcoming governorship election in Anambra State, saying the hurdle placed on the way of the party had been completely lifted by the decision of the Appeal Court. Uche Ekwunife, a gubernatorial aspirant of the party in Anambra state 2014 governorship election, said the ruling was a victory for democracy. She therefore, urged Umeh and governor Peter Obi to reconcile their differences in the interest of the party.

Nnanna Ukaegbu, chairman of APGA in Abia State, said that the party’s victory at the Appeal Court was a way of invoking Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu’s spirit ahead of the November 16, 2013, Anambra State governorship election. He said Ojukwu’s spirit would be happy with what was happening in the party and would be with members during the November 2013 election. “First of all, we give all the glory to God, and the judiciary for once again doing the right thing. Actually, this is not the time to gloat over our victory. We still have a great task ahead of us which is the November 16, 2013 election in Anambra state. We have a great task of reaching out to those who may have been aggrieved one way or the other or who may not be happy with court judgment,” he said.

In the midst of the victory at the court, the challenge before Umeh is on how to reconcile with governor Obi-led faction and how to finance the forthcoming governorship election in Anambra if Obi decides to quit the party.  But Ukaegbu said the party had started reaching out to members who might have been aggrieved one way or the other in the course of the crisis, and expressed the hope that everybody would be reconciled.

“We have already commenced work. APGA is a mass movement, so it will not be very difficult for us to get everybody back on track. We are working already. We were at the Mausoleum of our great leader, Dim Odumegwu Ojukwu, after the ruling to dedicate the victory to his spirit, and to once again invoke his spirit to lead us in the November 16 battle. I am assuring you that we will once again record a huge victory in Anambra come November 16, 2013.”

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