The candidacy of Chukwuma Odii Ifeanyi as the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) candidate for governor of Ebonyi State in the next election has been affirmed by the Supreme Court.
A five-member panel of the supreme court, presided over by Justice Amina Augie, issued a decision on Wednesday unanimously sustaining the appeal made by Ifeanyi.
The Court of Appeal’s July 19 ruling ordering a new trial in the lawsuit between Senator Joseph Obinna Ogba and Ifeanyi regarding who was the legitimate candidate was overturned by the court.
The Federal High Court’s June 7, 2022 judgment, which the Court of Appeal had overturned in its July 19 decision, was reinstated by the supreme court.
The court determined that the Court of Case lacked jurisdiction to hear Ogba’s appeal because Ogba’s June 17, 2022 notice of appeal was invalid since he had not first secured court permission to appeal as an interested party.
The Supreme Court further ruled that the ineffectiveness of Ogba’s notice of appeal deprive the Court of Appeal of the necessary jurisdiction, and as a result, all proceedings conducted, including the order made in the July 19 judgment setting aside the June 7 judgment of the Federal High Court, which had upheld Ifeanyi’s nomination, amounted to a nullity.
The ruling arose from Ifeanyi’s appeal with the markings DC/CV/ 939/2022.
Before appealing a verdict as an interested party, Justice Mohammed Garba, who delivered the lead judgment, ruled that an interested party who was not a party on record must first seek and gain the Court of Appeal’s permission.
Justice Garba said: “The failure or omission of the first respondent to first seek and obtain prior leave of court tenders the appeal incompetent.
“The notice of appeal filed on the 17th of June 2022, having been filed without leave, is therefore incompetent.
“In the absence of a valid notice of appeal before the court below, the first respondent lacked locus standi to have appealed the decision of the trial court.
“As a result, I find merit in this appeal. All the proceedings conducted by the lower court were conducted without jurisdiction and hence a nullity,” he said.
He continued by saying that since the proceedings had been pronounced invalid, the court did not need to spend time considering their legality.
Justice then overturned the ruling from July 19 and reinstated the Federal High Court’s decision from June 7 that had approved Ifeanyi’s nomination.
The cross-appeal filed by Ogba was likewise dismissed by Justice Garba for lack of merit.
Justice Adamu Jauro, Emmanuel Agim, and Tijani Abubakar are additional panelists.
