The Abuja division of the Court of Appeal, on Tuesday reserved judgment in an appeal by embattled Governor of Abia State, Okezie Ikpeazu, where he is challenging the ruling of the Federal High Court, Abuja, which sacked him as governor of the state.
Recall that an Abuja Federal High Court had on June 27 sacked Ikpeazu as governor over tax evasion.
The Justice Okon Abang-led court had also ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to issue Ikpeazu’s challenger in the 2015 Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, governorship primaries, Uche Ogah with certificate of return which was done, however, Ogah has not been sworn in.
Following Abang’s judgement, the embattled governor had filed an appeal at the appellate court seeking to set-aside the judgement.
At today’s resumed hearing, Ikpeazu through his counsel, Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, had urged the appellate court to set-aside Abang’s ruling, saying the judge went beyond his powers and misdirected himself in law.
According to Olanipekun, “The trial judge erred in law when he ordered as a consequential order that the appellant vacates his office as the Governor of Abia state immediately when there was no jurisdiction in the Federal High Court to remove, vacate the occupier of the office of the governor of a state or order the removal of such officer after the unsuccessful challenge of the result of the election at the Tribunal and swearing in of the appellant as the governor.”
Citing section 31(6) of the Electoral Act 2010, Olanipekun argued that the only power, authority and order exercisable by the trial court was to disqualify a candidate from contesting election.
After listening to all parties involved in the matter, a five-man panel of Justices of the appellate court led by Justice Morenike Ogunwumiju, deferred the matter to a date yet to be fixed, as at the time of filing this report.
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