Appeal Court voids Ikpeazu's removal

...Accuses Justice Okon Abang of raping democracy

..I’ve been spurred to serve better - Gov

 

Reprieve came on Thursday for Abia State Governor Okezie Ikpeazu as the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal nullified his removal from office by Justice Okon Abang.

In dismissing the judgement of the lower court, the Court of Appeal ruled that Justice Abang’s verdict removing Ikpeazu from office was “grossly erroneous,” while his findings were “ridiculous”.

Justice Abang, of the Federal High Court, Abuja, had on June 27, 2016 sacked Ikpeazu from office over alleged forgery of his tax certificates. Abang declared Dr. Uche Ogah, also of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) as the new governor and ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to issue him certificate of return immediately.

Delivering one of the lead judgments consisting of six appeals that emanated from the suit at the trial court, the Presiding Justice of the five-man panel, Justice Helen Ogunwumiju, held that the trial judge, Justice Okon Abang, turned the law on its head when it held that the governor’s tax papers supplied false information, when in actual fact the tax documents were generated from official quarters.

The appellate court also held that Justice Abang misinterpreted Section 31 of the Electoral Act, on the ground that there was no evidence before the court to that effect.

Justice Ogunwumiju further declared that Justice Abang raped democracy in his order that INEC should issue a certificate of return to Dr Ogah when there was no evidence of forgery or criminality against the appellant.

According to the court, the judgement of Justice Abang was “grossly erroneous because it was based on inadequacy of tax receipt that cannot be visited on the appellant (Ikpeazu).

“After reading through the judgement several times, I was amazed at how the trial judge arrived at his conclusion of perjury against the appellant when there was no evidence of forgery. To say the least, his findings are ridiculous.

“The judge must have sat in his chamber, unilaterally assessed and computed the tax of the appellant and came to the conclusion that he did not pay the required tax. But let me say that courts are not allowed to speculate as the trial judge has done in the instant case.

“In another breadth, the trail judge spoke from both sides of his mouth when in one breadth, he claimed that he based his findings on supply of false information and in another breadth, he came to the conclusion that the appellant in this matter committed perjury, even when there was no allegation of forgery and no allegation that he did not pay tax,” Ogunwumju ruled.

Justice Ogunwumiju also held that the Federal High Court Judge turned the law upside down in his conclusion that it was the appellant that should bear the burden of proof on the allegation made by Ogah.

“With respect, we disagree with him in this conclusion because it is the person that makes allegation of falsehood that must prove it.”

The Appeal Court also held that Justice Abang erred when he imported the phrase ‘as at when due’ into the PDP 2014 guidelines.

“The Judge would not have imported the phrase into his findings if he had seen the copy of the PDP guidelines. In this case, he violated the PDP guidelines.

“From whatever angle one looks at the judgement of the trial judge, the decision of his court was grossly erroneous. The inadequacies of the tax receipt cannot be visited on Ikpeazu who scored the highest votes in the 2015 governorship elections as doing so will amount to a rape of democracy,” the court ruled.

The appellate court also held that Ogah ought not to have commenced the case through an originating summon, saying that such a suit should have been instituted through a writ of summons.

In all, it was a unanimous judgment setting aside the judgment of Justice Abang.

Consequently, the appeal was allowed and the sum of N100, 000 was awarded as costs against Ogah and other respondents in the appeal.

I’ve been spurred to serve better - Gov

In a reaction to the verdict, Ikpeazu said that he had been challenged to serve the people of Abia better.

He said the judgment would spur him to render more impactful services to the people who gave him their mandate.

“I am ready to serve Ndi Abia with the last drop of my strength,” Ikpeazu declared, while thanking God for affirming his mandate.

He described the court ruling as a victory for the common people who voted massively for him at the 2015 poll.

Ikpeazu also expressed gratitude to the judiciary for “remaining the last hope of man”, adding that by affirming his mandate, the judiciary has once again demonstrated that “there is hope for Nigeria.”

“Without the judiciary, what would have been the fate of the son of a poor teacher like me?” He quarried.

Meanwhile, the Chairman, Board of Trustees of the PDP, Senator Waheed Jubrin, has hailed the judgment, describing it as “justice for the people.”

Jubrin, who was in the state with other members of the BoT to attend the burial of Chief Ojo Maduekwe scheduled for Saturday, said he was certain Ikpeazu’s mandate would be upheld.

He said the court victory would enable Ikpeazu to settle down and deliver more democracy dividends to the people of the state.