Jonathan Elendu
Chief Victor Oye, erstwhile chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, has claimed that the story of replacing his name in a matter which the Supreme Court ruled in 2021 is ‘fake news.’
In a text message exchange with Elendu Reports, Chief Oye further stated: “Nothing happened. The Supreme Court never sat afresh.”
Elendu Reports has seen a Supreme Court judgement signed by Mary Ukaego Peter-Odili and certified on May 9, 2022. The name on the Certified True Copy of the judgment as chairman of APGA is Chief Edozie Njoku.
A Supreme Court panel of five justices sat on October 14th, 2021 in a matter between Chief Jude Okeke, plaintiff and All Progressives Grand Alliance, Chief Edozie Njoku, Alhaji Rabiu Garba Aliyu, and Independent National Electoral Commission.
The matter before the five justices was an appeal against the judgment of the Appeal court, Kano division.
In the said matter, the Justices mistakenly replaced the name of Chief Edozie Njoku as National Chairman with that of Chief Victor Oye. It was this mistake according to sources and the Certified True Copy of the judgment that was corrected on Monday, May 9, 2022.
The Justices had ruled that the replacement of a National Chairman of a political party or other officers of a party was an internal affair of the party and therefore not justiciable.
This means that courts in Nigeria are not allowed to entertain suits on replacement of political party officials.
Chief Edozie Njoku, had in a May 6th, 2022 letter to Justice Mary Ukaego Peter-Odili, who was the chairman of the panel, requested the Court to correct “the misplacement of names in your Lordship’s judgment in suit no: SC/CV/686/2021 as contained in page 13, paragraph 1.
Njoku’s letter to Justice Odili, which was sighted by this reporter, also quoted portions of the Appeal court’s judgment to buttress his request.
The Supreme Court panel that heard the appeal of October 14th, 2021 are: 1. Mary Ukaego Peter-Odili. 2. Kudirat Motonmori Olatokunbo Kekere-Ekun. 3. Mohammed Lawal Garba. 4. Ibrahim Musa Mohammed Saulawa. 5. Emmanuel Akomoye Agim.