The candidate of the Young Progressive Party, Ifeanyi Ubah, has been affirmed by the Court of Appeal as the senator-elect of Anambra South Senatorial District.
In a unanimous judgement delivered on Thursday, the three member-panel of the appellate court led by Justice Stephen Adah, held that the lower court had no jurisdiction to have entertained the matter.
The failure to refuse the matter made the lower court’s decision, void. “That is what the court ought to have done when approached,” the court held.
Justice Adah also held that the law makes it mandatory for a legal practitioner to sign an originating summons before it is issued out.
He said: “A document that is not signed is a worthless piece of paper and has no credibility.”
He also agreed that the right of the appellant to fair hearing was breached by the trial court. “Right to fair hearing is very fundamental and anything done afterwards results to a nullity,” he said.
“The judgment of the lower court is a nullity and is hereby set aside.”
Justice Adah, in the lead judgment, then held that, “the appeal of the appellant has merit and it is hereby, allowed.”
Recalled that Justice Bello Kawu of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in Kubwa, Abuja, on January 17, nullified the election of Ubah as the senator representing Anambra South.
In the judgement on January 17, the court also ordered the nation’s electoral body, INEC, to withdraw the certificate of return issued to Ubah and to issue a fresh certificate to the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Obinna Uzoh – who came second in the election, as the senator-elect of the district.
