A vacation court presided by Hon. Justice H.Y Baba of the Federal Capital Territory High court 5, Maitama- Abuja on Friday, 19th December 2014 eventually set aside the Ex partè injunction restraining the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) from submitting Mr. Udom Emmanuel’s name to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as its candidate for the 2015 gubernatorial elections.
The substantive suit was originally instituted by Ime Effiong Ekanem against PDP and two others at the FCT High Court which was brought before Honorable Justice Yusuf Hallilu at court 33 in Kubwa before the judiciary embarked on vacation. However, while some have been quick to accuse Governor Akpabio and Team “Udom Is Right” of the complicity of making the judge call off his vacation to seat over a matter on a date different from the actual adjourned date being 5th, January 2015 it is imperative here to state the facts as they are for the integrity of our courts that such claims are but phoney misrepresentation of the truth.
Accordingly, it is in the tradition of the judiciary to appoint a vacation judge to hold brief for other judges on exigencies during the vacation during which such matters are transferred to the said vacation court for judicial dispatch. It was therefore in the light of this that the learned counsel to the defendants Mr. Paul Usoro SAN seized this window to present an affidavit of urgency and an application for the injunction to be set aside which was heard on the 18th December 2015. Grounds in his submission include the fact that the suit itself being a pre-election matter did not have time limit while the parties themselves were jointly and severally pitched against time because should the injunction be allowed to operate to the adjourned date PDP would have failed to meet the INEC deadline for submission of candidates which would ultimately defeat the purpose of the suit itself when ordinarily the name if submitted could always be withdrawn where necessary through due process.
To this end, the court was convinced that the plaintiff had not shown real urgency in his case to warrant the grant and operation of an interim injunction restraining the party from complying with the relevant electoral laws and guidelines and that they also failed to make full disclosure of the material facts before the court when applying for the injunction at the first instance thereby breeding a valid ground for the injunction to be set aside which the court so did. However, the learned judge displayed judicial industry in reaching his ruling barely 12 hours after the submissions of both parties especially the fact that he was able to present recent authorities to wade the insightful and persuasive submissions and authorities presented contained in the preliminary objection presented by learned counsel to the plaintiff Mr. Ricky Tarfa SAN on the jurisdiction of the vacation court to hear the defendants’ application even as his request to be given time to respond to the said defendants’ application was declined.
By the time the court rose Barr. Emmanuel Enoidem who led the party delegation to hear the ruling told everyone present that the ruling was a confirmation of the primaries held on monday 9th December where Mr. Udom Emmanuel was elected party flag bearer and thereafter proceeded to Uyo for celebration but outside the court house was another episode with a band of protesters against the candidacy of Mr. Udom Emmanuel and the court ruling. Meanwhile, the ruling only permitted the party to submit the name of their alleged winner before the deadline and did not declare anyone winner as it is not within the jurisdiction of the court to do so but to adjudicate on the authenticity of the process. Thus, both parties are to return to Justice Hallilu’s Court at Kubwa on the 5th of January 2015 for definite hearing of the substantive suit.
No comments:
Post a Comment