The Abuja Court of Appeal has reserved judgment in an appeal by the All Progressive Congress (APC) that rejected Akwa Ibom gubernatorial candidate Akanimo Udofia against a lower court’s verdict.
The three-person panel, led by Judge Elfreda Williams-Dawodu, made the announcement after the plaintiff’s attorney, Damian Dodo, SAN, and Senator Ita Enang’s attorney, Mba Ukweni, SAN, accepted their briefs and presented their arguments.
A federal high court-FHC sitting in Uyo on November 14 overturned Mr. Udofia’s nomination as the APC’s candidate for governor in Akwa Ibom. The judge, Agatha Okeke, ordered the APC to hold a new primary for governor within two weeks, but barred Udofia from running in the new primary.
The case was brought by Enang, a former presidential aide who ran in the primary.
Enang vs Udofia
Enang had asked the court to declare him a validly elected candidate of the party, arguing that Udofia was not a member of the party as he was at the time of the primaries.
But Udofia had filed an appeal stating: CS/C/370/2022 to challenge the FHC ruling.
In the appeal, Enang, the APC, and the Independent National Election Commission (INEC) are the first to third defendants respectively. Also in another appeal filed by the APC through its attorney, J.Y. Musa, SAN, on the same topic highlighted: CS/C/371/2022, Enang, Udofia, and INEC are respectively from the 1st to the 3rd respondent.
When Udofia’s appeal hearing resumed, which took place on Saturday, Dodo specified that the letter invoked by the appellant is dated 9 December and was filed on the same date.
He took back all of his memoirs and urged the court to overturn the lower court’s verdict.
The attorney pleaded his case and said the lower court had erred in its judgment as the lawsuit, which was filed with a summons, should have been filed with a summons, citing a ruling by the Court of Justice Appeal that was upheld by the Supreme Court on October 10 .21 to support its entry.
He said the apex court has ruled that when the parties have a dispute, especially in pre-election matters, what must be filed is a writ in which the parties would summon their witnesses to allow the court to make a decision. the impartial decision as it would be difficult for a judge to find two parties who agree on a fact. He said that in the present case, where there were allegations that the results were falsified, and votes were assigned to certain people, Enang (the first defendant) should have initiated the trial by subpoena. Dodo also argued that Enang’s amended subpoena was submitted to the lower court outside the statutory 14-day time limit.
When the lower court based its judgment on the amended summons, it became an incurable disease that afflicted the entire trial and therefore the judgment of this court based on the amended summons was totally invalid.
He also argued that Enang’s brief to the Court of Appeal was filed outside the prescribed five-day deadline.
He asked the court to uphold his appeal and issue a follow-up injunction ordering INEC to recognize and publish the name of Udofia (appellant) as a candidate for the APC in the election of the Governor of Akwa Ibom in 2023.
But Ukweni, appearing for Enang, disagreed with Dodo’s submission.
In response to the argument that Enang’s brief was delayed in submitting to the Court of Appeal because he had five days to do so, the lawyer said the appeal record shows that the 12th of March, 12 in open court in Calabar
He further explained that although the Claimant served them with an Appeal Brief on December 9, the First Respondent (Enang) did not receive the Appeal Brief, including the Appeal Brief, until December 12.
He said his December 14 brief was filed on December 14. 16
“So it’s not fair that we filed our brief late,” he said, citing a 2006 case decided by the Court of Appeals between the Justice Party and INEC to support his argument. argument.
Ukweni said that in this case, the court ruled that the defendant’s filing period would begin when the parties received the complete brief. “Indeed, in this case, all records of this particular appeal were served on the defendant in open court on December 12, 2022,” he pointed out.
The lawyer read his brief reasoning and said that service outside the jurisdiction does not apply to FHC if the proceedings are to be served in Nigeria. He asked the court to dismiss Udofia’s appeal.
In response to the plaintiff’s response that Enang’s amended subpoena was filed with FHC outside the 14-day period, Ukweni said the trial judge upheld her amended subpoena in a judgment of August 24.
The attorney argued that the amendment to the original subpoena was a deemed court order duly filed.
He further argued that Udofia should have appealed the court’s decision within 14 days of August 24, when it was served. “To say now that you are contesting the judgment on the ground that it was based on an amended subpoena is an indirect way of asking for an extension of time for your Lordship to appeal this decision of August 24, 2022,” he said. he declares.
He asked the court to strike out the related issues and grounds of appeal.
The lead attorney, who argued the court’s decision was unassailable, said they couldn’t go out the back door to challenge it.
Also Read: Enang Vs Akan Udofia: Joining Case Mere Academic Exercise – Constitutional Lawyer
Ukweni disagreed with Dodo on filing the complaint in the lower court by subpoena instead of a subpoena, saying FHC Chief Justice John Tsoho provided practical guidance for expedited trial in pre-election cases.
He argued that Judge Tsoho, by the authority vested in him as Chief Justice, ordered that the primary cases be initiated by subpoena due to expediency. “And we started the trial with a subpoena,” he said.
He clarified that the facts were not the same among the authorities cited by Dodo.
“In this case, there were issues with certificate tampering, but we are not changing the certificate tampering.
“Our argument is that the plaintiff (Udofia) is a member of the PDP, which contested its primaries on May 25, 2022.
“How come you became an APC candidate on May 26, 2022? It was the simple matter taken to the lower court and appealed to His Lordship,” he said.
Ukweni said Udofia admitted in the lower court that he joined the APC on May 1.
“The trial judge said, assuming we followed your arguments, that you joined the APC on May 1, but the list of party members required by electoral law was published on May 14.
“So how could you go through the nomination process even though you joined a party on May Day?” he asked.
He told the court that a May 25 PDP primary ballot had been published with Udofia’s photo on it in his brief. The lawyer invited the judge to dismiss the appeal, as unfounded.
The 2nd (APC) and 3rd (INEC) defendants filed no letter in the appeal notice.
Ukweni also pleaded with the court to dismiss APC’s appeal as unnecessary, after Udofia appealed.
“Why should you (APC) file a complaint on behalf of another person?” he asked, urging the court to overturn it and uphold the verdict of the lower court presiding over a new election for party members.
Judge Williams-Dawodu, after noting that the case would conclude on January 22, reserved the case for adjudication. She said the date of the verdict would be communicated to the parties
