Justice Chioma Nwosu-Iheme of the Court of Appeal on Monday, demanded punishment for a judge of the Jigawa State High Court, Justice Ubale of Birnin Kudu, and his counterpart in the Imo State, Justice B. C. Iheka, for what she described as their unprofessional conduct by dabbling into the Anambra State gubernatorial election controversy and the consequential judgments they gave on it.
The Awka Court of Appeal justice also wants lawyers who took the cases to the state high courts in Jigawa and Imo states disciplined for professional misbehavior.
Justice Nwosu-Iheme made the demand while ruling yesterday on a motion by Chike Onyemenam (SAN), counsel to Jude Okeke, who claims to be the national chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), to stop the execution of the order made earlier on July 18 by Justice Charles C. Okaa of the Anambra State High Court in Awka.
The Justice Okaa judgment had directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to recognize the former Central Bank of Nigeria governor, Professor Charles Soludo, as the APGA candidate in the November 6 gubernatorial election in the state, in line with the outcome of the June 23 APGA Congress and primary election which Soludo won, that was monitored by INEC.
INEC had on July 16 published Chukwuma Umeoji of the House of Representatives as the APGA candidate, following an order by the Jigawa State High Court on June 28, but was not made known until the eve of the INEC’s unveiling of names of various candidates.
The consequential order was based on the argument that Okeke was the APGA acting national chairman who purportedly took over from one Edozie Njoku.
TNC correspondent in Awka can confirm that INEC, which regulates Nigerian political parties, has no record of either Njoku or Okeke, as having ever been the APGA national chairman, as it has in the last few years recognized only Chief Victor Oye as the party’s chairman.
Still, Justice Iheka, presiding over the Imo State High Court in Owerri, on July 30 gave a judgment, affirming Okeke as the APGA chairman and Umeoji, the party’s gubernatorial candidate.
But in yesterday’s ruling, the Court of Appeal justice accused Anambra politicians of going round the country, shopping for judgments to enable them contest in the November governorship election rather than appear before the courts which have the territorial jurisdiction to entertain the election.
She regretted that some judges and lawyers indulge such politicians and as a result, bring the legal profession into public contempt.
Justice Nwosu-Iheme, therefore, called for strong punishments to be meted out to the state high court judges in Jigawa and Imo states who gave judgments on the Anambra APGA controversy and the lawyers who brought the cases before them.
