APC said it would use every legal instrument available to it to ensure that Justice Nyako’s alleged plot to foist a governorship candidate on the party in Abia State does not materialize.
By Jeffrey Agbo
The Abia State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused a Federal High Court Judge, Justice Binta Nyako, of plotting to foist a governorship candidate on the party in the 2023 elections.
The party raised the alarm on Thursday through its Secretary in Abia State, Hon. Chidi Avaja.
According to the APC, Dr. Uchechukwu Ogah, former Minister of State for Mines and Steel Development, who contested the governorship primary election held in Umuahia on May 26, 2022 and lost to Chief Ikechi Emenike, filed a suit at the Federal High Court, Umuahia, Abia State capital, on June 7, 2022, challenging the outcome.
The APC claimed that the plot to foist a candidate on the party became manifest at the first hearing on July 6, 2022, when Justice E.A. Anyadike of the Federal High Court in Umuahia, announced that the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court had directed that the case be transferred to the Abuja division of the Federal High Court.
The party lamented that the order to transfer the case to Abuja came as a surprise to the APC, Chief Emenike and the National Chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, who are the first, second and third defendants respectively as they were neither served any application for the transfer nor informed of the reason(s) for the decision.
But the APC said on investigation, it was shocked to find out that “the transfer was predicated upon an application made by Dr. Uchechukwu Sampson Ogah to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, wherein he deliberately lied in the said application that Abia State faces security challenges that will make it impossible for the case to be heard and determined by the Federal High Court Umuahia, Abia State and that he was shot in Abia State after the suit was commenced by him.”
In reaction, Chief Emenike, through his lead counsel, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, on August 5, 2022, wrote to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, applied for re-transfer of the case to Umuahia.
The application was not granted. Similar application by the second and third defendants – APC and Senator Adamu – for a transfer of the case back to Umuahia, to be consolidated with other cases involving Ogah for full trial, were equally rejected.
APC also lamented that Chief Daniel Eke, who was joined by the Court as the 5th Defendant, equally filed a motion praying Justice Nyako to recuse herself from hearing the case because he no longer had the confidence in her to deliver justice.
But in a statement which was made available to TheNiche, APC said it regretted that “contrary to the well-established position of the law, Hon Justice Binta Nyako dismissed both applications on October 12, 2022, and proceeded to hear the case on originating summons and thereafter adjourned same to November 11, 2022, for judgment.”
Sensing that they were not going to get justice, both the APC and Eke filed a motion for leave to appeal against the dismissal of their respective applications before Justice Nyako.
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Though their request was granted by Nyako who granted them leave to appeal on October 25, which they did same day and applied for the transmission of the record of appeal, APC is accusing the Judge of frustrating the Appellants by keeping the case file out of their reach.
Narrating the party’s ordeal in the hands of Justice Nyako to TheNiche, Hon. Avaja said: “Since October 25, 2022, when the appeals were filed, Hon Justice Binta Nyako seized the case file and refused to release same to the Registrar of the Appeal Section to enable the record of appeal to be promptly compiled and transmitted to the registry of the Court of Appeal for prompt hearing of the two appeals before judgment is delivered in the case.”
APC accused Justice Nyako of conniving with the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court to frustrate the compilation and transmission of the record of appeal to the Registry of the Court of Appeal in order to delay the hearing of their appeals until after November 11, 2022.
The APC secretary further said, “Hon. Justice Binta Nyako is determined to miscarry justice on November 11. And she is going about it with no qualms. Against the decision of the Party, against the provisions of the electoral laws, she wants to anoint a governorship candidate for APC in Abia State.
“Despite written protests of bias against her, despite objections that once there are contentions over facts/affidavits, such suits cannot be heard through Originating Summons, Nyako overruled all such objections on October 12. The Party and one of the candidates signified interest to appeal against her ruling.
“After several visits, she reluctantly granted leave to appeal on October 25. After granting leave, she took away the case file, making it impossible for the appeal section of the Federal High Court to compile and transmit records to the Court of Appeal.
“Despite petitions and appeals, she bluntly refused to release the case file or release relevant processes in the case file for compilation and transmission of the records of the appeal to the Court of Appeal, thereby frustrating the timely hearing of the appeal. Such stalling would enable her to deliver a compromised judgment on November 11.”
APC said it would use every legal instrument available to it to ensure that Justice Nyako’s alleged plot to foist a governorship candidate on the party in Abia State does not materialize.