Victor Umeh
Former national chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, Chief Victor Umeh, has asked the Court of Appeal, sitting in Enugu to order a stay of execution on the Enugu State High court judgment which ousted him alongside other members of the APGA National Executive Council, NEC, pending the determination of his appeal.
The Chief Judge of Enugu State, Justice Innocent Umezulike, had in his judgment delivered on February 8, 2013, restrained Umeh from parading himself as APGA National Chairman, just as it held that the party’s Convention that held on February 10, 2011 to re-elect him and other officers “was unconstitutional, null and void”.
But in a 25-paragraph affidavit in support of his motion on notice for stay of execution of the lower court’s decision, Umeh stated that he had on February 11, 2013, applied to the lower court for an order of stay of execution pending the determination of his appeal.
He said: “despite my request for a date to be assigned for the hearing of my Motion on Notice dated and filed on 11 February 2013, the said motion on notice for stay of execution was not heard nor attended to by the lower court before the record of appeal was transmitted to this honourable court and the appeal entered as no. CA/E/84/2013”.
Condemning the Maxi Okwu led interim leadership of the party, Umeh asserted that under the constitution of APGA, “none of the persons and/or majority of the persons who issued/signed the communiqué, dated 16 February, 2013 are members of the National Caucus of APGA”.
He stated that unless the appellate court granted the order for the stay of execution, the strangers to the suit acting under the false description of ‘National Caucus of APGA’ will not relent in depriving him the exercise of his constitutional right of appeal, adding that they would as well be creating confusion, disharmony and chaos within the party.
“Unless by an order of this Honourable Court, the persons ‘elected’ as ‘Acting National Officers’ of our party (APGA) vide the communiqué dated 16 February 2013 will continue to usurp my functions under the Constitution of APGA and render my appeal utterly impotent”, Umeh further deposed.
Expressing his fear that APGA would be adversely affected if the stay of execution order was not made, Umeh said that the administration and management of the political party would be halted and irreparable damage would be done before the hearing and determination of the appeal by the appellate court.
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