Abia Governorship Logjam: Your enrolment order hasty, Ikpeazu tells judge
· The court did not observe the mandatory seven days allowed by law – Ikepazu’s lawyer, Olanipekun
· Court has jurisdiction to sign enrolment order any time after delivery of judgment – Judge
· Court fixes July 7 to entertain Ikpeazu’s application for stay of execution, Ogah’s for enforcement
· Remove Ikpeazu, we will make Abia ungovernable, Ukwa-Ngwa Youths warn
· Ikpeazu’s tax certificate not fake, we were never invited by the court – Abia Revenue Agency
A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Monday adjourned till July 7, to entertain the application for stay of judgment execution filed by Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia.
Justice Okon Abang fixed the date after listening to the submissions of Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), counsel to Ikpeazu.
Olanipekun had informed the court that late receipt of counter affidavit to his main application from Dr Alex Izinyo (SAN), counsel to Uche Ogah, necessitated the demand for extra days to file further responses.
Olanipekun had at first request the court to set aside the enrollment judgment order it made on July 1.
Olanipekun argued that the enrollment order was hastily done, saying the court did not observe the mandatory seven days allowed by law.
Enrollment order is a summary of the judgment delivered on June 27 and was allegedly used to the advantage of Ogah.
He also said that the court should abrogate the Certificate of Return issued to Ogah, adding that INEC was already served when it carried out the action.
On his part, Izinyon dismissed that argument, saying that the Certificate of Return was dated June 28 and was not given to his client after the notice of appeal was served.
This was collaborated by Mr Alhassan Umar, counsel to INEC, when he said the commission had carried out the judgment order before the service was received.
Ruling on the application to vacate the enrollment order made by Olanipekun, Abang held that it lacked merit.
“The court of law has the jurisdiction to sign its enrollment order any time upon the delivery of a judgment.
“In fact, the enrollment order is not made to favour either the judgment debtor or judgment creditor. It is simply an enrollment order of the court.
“Any party is free to apply to the Registrar of the Court for a Certified True Copy (CTC). “If the appellant applicant did not apply for the CTC then the court is not to blame,’’ he said.
The judge further said: “besides, Orders 23 Rule 3 and 54 Rule 2 of the court gives me the jurisdiction to sign the enrollment.
“I do not have to wait for the expiration of the three days as stated in Order 4 Rule 2 of the Judgment Enforcement Rule as contended by Olanipekun to sign it.
“I have jurisdiction to sign the enrollment order as at the time I did. With respect to the senior learned counsel, the application lacks merit and it is hereby dismissed,’’ he held.
Abang further held that: “the second leg of the application for adjournment is hereby granted and July 7 is fixed to hear all the post-judgment applications’’.
Justice Abang said that Olanipekun’s oral application seeking to set aside the Certificate of Return issued to Ogah by the Independent National Electoral Commission lacks merit. He ruled that court processes don’t includes enrolment orders.
Earlier, Olanipekun (SAN) who was appearing in the matter for the first time had urged the court to adjourn the matter till Thursday but Izinyon (SAN) refused and prayed the court to vacate an Abia State high court ex-parte order inhabiting the judgment execution.
Both counsel to the parties also accused each other of resorting to self-help when the matter is pending before the court of appeal.
Meanwhile, an apex umbrella body of all youths in Ukwa/Ngwa land, Supreme Council of Ukwa-Ngwa Youths, has warned that if Ikpeazu is removed, the body will make Abia state ungovernable.
Addressing newsmen in Umuahia, the body called on President Muhammadu Buhari to “as a matter of urgency, wade in and nip in the bud the brewing crisis” in the state.
Speaking for the youths, the National Co-ordinator, Comrade Kinsley Nna Okdigbo frowned at the judgment that ordered for the “hurried” issuance of certificate of returns to Dr. Uche Oga by INEC, on the 30th of June
This, he noted was done by INEC “having acknowledged the receipt of motion for the stay of execution and notice of appeal filed by Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu on the 28th of June 2016”, even when Dr. Oga “ab initio did not accept the outcome of the PDP governorship primaries”.
They described the scenario as “a rape of the Ngwa man”, stating, “This is a clear case of judicial rape on the democracy of Nigeria, an act we shall vehemently resisted by whatever means possible. No man is born violent or a militant.
“The council states that in clear terms, the security and safety of oil and gas facilities, staff of the operational joint venture companies in Ukwa-Ngwa nation can no longer be guaranteed if issues raised here-in are not redressed in consonance with the rule of law and diligent due process.
“Our peaceful disposition should not be taken for granted as we call on forces behind orchestrated plot to set Abia state ablaze to desist henceforth and give peace a chance.
“This is a clear case of judicial rape on the democracy of Nigeria, an act we shall vehemently resist by whatever means possible”.
The youths expressed their vote of confidence on Gov. Ikpeazu, wing, “His mandate, as freely given, is one thing we are prepared to defend with the last drop of our blood.
“We will use the last blood of the body as youths of 9 LGAs of the 17 to defend the mandate freely given to him.”
In another development, the Abia State Internal Revenue Service (ASIRS) on Monday said that the tax certificate it issued to Okezie Ikpeazu, governor of the state, was not fake.
The Abia state revenue agency in a statement by Udochukwu Ogbonna, its chairman, said “The tax clearance certificate referred to in that judgment was duly issued to Dr Okezie Victor Ikpeazu by the service, and was therefore not fake,” it said.
“That the taxes for the years 2011, 2012 and 2013 were PAYE taxes deducted at source from his personal emoluments by his employers (Abia State Passengers’ Integrated Manifest Scheme and Abia State Environment Sanitation Authority respectively) and remitted to the service in the relevant tax years.
“Finally, we state emphatically for the record and for the attention of the general public that we were never invited by the court or the plaintiff, Dr Uchechukwu Ogah, during the pendency of the subject suit that led to judgment in Dr Okezie Ikpeazu’s tax matter to state the authenticity or otherwise of the tax papers in issue.”
