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| Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu |
Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State has won the first appeal delivered
by the Court of Appeal in Abuja with respect to the judgments of the
Federal High Court in Abuja June 27 removing him from office.
Ikpeazu’s appeal was with respect to the ruling delivered by Justice
Okon Abang of the Federal High Court in Abuja on July 8 in which the
judge insisted that he had jurisdiction to hear a motion for stay of
execution of his earlier judgments delivered on June 27 even after the
appeals against the judgments had been entered.
The Justice Helen Ogunwumiju-led five-man bench unanimously agreed in
their judgment that Justice Abang erroneously assumed jurisdiction to
hear the motion and adjourned it till a later date.
Justice Philomena Ekpe, who read the lead judgment, held that what
Justice Abang ought to have done in line with the time-honored doctrine
of “stari decisis” was to have transferred the motion to the Court of
Appeal for determination.
She also held that the Justice Abang 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 and when a final judgment in a suit had been
delivered.
She also held that Justice Abang lacked jurisdictions to interpret
the provisions of the Court of Appeal being the rules of a superior
court.
In her contribution, Justice Ogunwumiju, held that the trial judge
“deliberately stood the law on its head” by justifying his jurisdiction
to hear the motion when an appeal has been entered.
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