Okezie Ikpeazu Wins Uche Ogar in First Appeal in the Abia Governorship

An Appeal Court sitting in Abuja on Thursday has reversed the judgement of Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court, which annulled the election of Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State.

Recall that Justice Abang had on June 27, 2016, dismissed Ikpeazu as governor over charges of tax evasion during the governorship primary in December 2014.

Justice Abang further ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to issue a certificate of return to the plaintiff, Uche Ogah, who was runner-up in the primary.
Justice Abang had on July 8 insisted that he had jurisdiction to hear a motion for stay of execution of his earlier judgments despite a subsisting appeal against his earlier judgments.

Delivering the ruling, Justice Helen Ogunwumiju, who led a five-man bench, held that Abang’s judgment was made in error, Daily Post writes.

Similarly, Justice Philomina Ekpe held that Justice Abang in line with time-honoured doctrine of “stari decisis” should have transferred the motion to the Court of Appeal for determination, saying he wrongly interpreted the provisions of Order 4(10) and (11) of the Court of Appeal rules when he held that the said provisions were only applicable to an interlocutory ruling of the lower court.

The judgement held that Justice Abang lacked jurisdictions to interpret the provisions of the Court of Appeal being the rules of a superior court, while another member of panel, Justice Ogunwumiju, claimed Abang “deliberately stood the law on its head.”