Anambra Commends Court of Appeal on APGA Leadership Judgment

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The Anambra State Government has commended the Court of Appeal sitting in Kano for setting aside the controversial judgment of the Jigawa State High Court at Birnin Kudu of June 30 recognizing Jude Okeke as the National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).

In a judgment delivered today, the Court of Appeal unanimously recognized Chief Victor Oye as the party’s national chairman and consequently affirmed the former Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Professor Chukwuma Charles Soludo, as the APGA candidate in the November 6 gubernatorial election in the state.

“Hope in the Nigerian judiciary as the temple of justice for all citizens has been rekindled with the sound judgment”, the Anambra State Government declared in a statement signed by Information and Public Enlightenment Commissioner C. Don Adinuba.

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“There is massive rejoicing all over the state since the news of the judgment filtered into the state, showing that the judgment synchronizes with the expectations, wishes and sentiments of millions of our people”.

Adinuba noted that Anambra people have all along been expecting a unanimous judgment in favour of APGA, especially since last Wednesday when the APGA and Oye team of lawyers led by Wole Olanipekun, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), and Patrick Ikwueto, another SAN election petition expert, addressed the court.

“They had an excellent case and presented it in such an incisive manner that even laymen knew that they were bound to win decisively”, said the commissioner.

“The performance of the legal team and the Court of Appeal judgment will long remain a pride to the law profession in Nigeria, making up for the public loss of confidence generated by both the Birnin Kudu court which had no jurisdiction to entertain the case in the first place and the legal practitioners who took the case to Justice Musa Ubale.

The Anambra State Government also praised the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), particularly its Section on Public Interest and Development Law (SPIDEL) led by Dr Monday Ubani, for openly criticizing Justice Ubale and Okeke’s lawyers for gross professional misconduct.

“The NBA leadership is alive to its social responsibility”, according to the statement which commended Justice Chioma Nwosu-Iheme of the Court of Appeal in Awka for her courage and professionalism in openly demanding sanctions against the not only the Birnin Kudu judge but also Justice BC Iheka of the Imo State High Court in Owerri who on July 30 gave judgment affirming Okeke as APGA chairman even when it was clear that both State High Court judges had no jurisdiction to entertain the APGA leadership matter.

Meanwhile, Governor Willie Obiano has described the Court of Appeal judgment as “victory for the APGA family.

“There are no victors and there are no vanquished in this case as far as our great party is concerned”.

Chief Obiano, who is also APGA National Leader and Chairman of the party’s Board of Trustees, said, “APGA is going into the election as a people’s movement, and this will see us win all 21 local government areas of the state as we did in 2017.

“This is why we set up the Senator Victor Umeh Reconciliation Committee which has been doing a fantastic job”.

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