*Appeals against own victory

By Ugochukwu Alaribe

ABA—Abia State governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu has filed an appeal against the aspects of judgment of the Federal High Court, Owerri which was all in his favour.

Ikpeazu

The judgment cleared him of the allegation of tax forgery and submission of false information and confirmed his election as governor.

A Peoples Democratic Party, PDP governorship aspirant, Sir Friday Nwosu, who contested the December 8, 2014 PDP primaries, had filed a suit accusing the governor of forging his tax documents and submitting false information to his party and INEC.

Judgment in Ikpeazu’s favour
Delivering judgment on the matter, the presiding Judge, Justice Ambrose Allagoa, on July 8, 2016, ruled that Ikpeazu was not the maker of the documents.

The judge, however, also held that the Court had jurisdiction to hear the matter and Nwosu was right to have commenced the suit through originating summons.

The judge also held that Uche Ogah had lost his right to benefit from the primaries as he petitioned against the primary election, wherein he alleged that only non delegates from neighbouring states voted in the primary election while authentic party delegates were locked out.

In a Notice of Appeal against the suit filed at the Court of Appeal, Owerri Division, between Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, Appellant and Sir Friday Nwosu, PDP, INEC and Dr. Uche Ogah, as respondents, Ikpeazu sought three reliefs: “that the appeal be allowed; an order dismissing the originating summons of the 1st respondent for being incompetent and thereby robbing the court of jurisdiction to entertain the action; and that the court should also dismiss the part of the judgment of the trial court which gave the lower court jurisdiction and also dismiss the appellant’s preliminary objections to the competence of the action be set aside.”

Grounds of appeal
Ikpeazu also outlined four grounds of appeal and particulars of error in the judgment to include “that the trial judge erred in law in assuming jurisdiction and hearing the originating summons of the plaintiff, the trial Judge erred in law when he held that the action was properly commenced by originating summons,” among others.