From Petrus Obi, Enugu
The Appeal Court sitting in Enugu yesterday night set aside an earlier judgment by an Enugu High Court which declared Chief Martin Agbaso as the Acting Chairman of the All Progressive Party (APGA) and reinstated the, hitherto, deposed Victor Oye as chairman of the party.
The court resolved the two issues of jurisdiction and fair hearing in favour of the appellant, Oye.
Justice Abdul Aboki, who read the judgment held that the lower court lacked the jurisdiction to hear the matter in the first place, and also ruled that the refusal to join the appellant as a party in the matter was against fair hearing.
He, therefore, struck out the substantive matter for lack of merit.
Commenting on the judgement one of the counsels to the appellant, Barr Emeka Etiaba, explained that “the Court of Appeal was faced with the preliminary objection that they shouldn’t hear the appeal, and there were reasons advanced.
“The court of appeal resolved the issue relating to the preliminary objection in favour of the appellant and that, being the case, cleared the way for the appeal to be resolved.
“And the court, in its wisdom, looked at the two issues formulated and resolved them in favour of the appellant.
“So, we thank the court of appeal for the erudite judgment delivered today and we are so grateful to them. And we pray that judges at the lower courts will show some restraints in the way that orders are made.
“And going by the provisions of the law it’s only Victor Oye and the national secretary Labaran Maku that can submit the list of the governorship candidate of APGA in the November 18 Anambra guber election.”