The legal team of Senator Ned Munir Nwoko has today reacted almost immediately to the ruling of the Federal High Court, Abuja which struck out a substantive suit challenging the APC senatorial candidacy of Sen. Dr. Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa.
This is following today’s ruling by the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja that struck out the suit filed by Senator Ned Nwoko against Senator Ifeanyi Okowa for being incompetent and fundamentally defective.
Senator Ned Nwoko, who contested the APC senatorial primaries against Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, had earlier approached the court to void Okowa’s emergence as the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for the Delta North Senatorial District, claiming that the official result announced by the party which recorded that Okowa secured 113,309 against his recorded 2,612 votes, was premeditated and false,. He insisted that there are extensive video evidences showing he (Nwoko) actually won the grassroots vote.
A preliminary procedural error was spotted as the suit was initially filed through a proxy, Dr. Mike Nwoko instead of the proper aggrieved party Senator Ned Nwoko, and upon realizing the mistake, Senator Nwoko applied for a leave to amend the court processes so that it would reflect that he, and not Dr. Mike Nwoko, was the actual aggrieved person in the pre-election matter – in which a leave to amend was granted by the court in this regards.
That move was immediately challenged by the defence counsel, and the court later upheld the defence, stating that the originating process was rendered incompetent by the error thereby stripping the court off jurisdiction.
Reacting to the ruling and misrepresentation of facts from the defendant’s camp, the legal team juxtaposed the difference and implication of sticking out a suit and dismissing a suit, placing the two legal terminologies in their right perspectives in order not to misinform the unsuspecting public.
“With the suit struck out by the high court and not dismissed, the claimant has the latitude to file a motion to relist the suit, refile the same suit with another suit number after all procedural errors have been amended or appeal the ruling , in other not to prejudice the merit of the case;” the legal team of the claimant states. The legal team insists that procedural errors at preliminary stage do not render a suit, then the court, incompetent, since a leave to amend is usually granted by the court to enable it entertain the merit of the case.
It further noted that the high court ruling is unfortunate and deeply concerning, noting that as the claimant’s legal team, it has the strict instruction to file an appeal immediately and is confident that the Appellate Court will overturn the ruling.
“The ruling is suspicious because it was not based on the merits of the case. The same court had earlier granted us leave to amend our processes but later set aside that order on its own motion, without justification, after it had exhausted its powers. This is an attempt to sabotage the substantive suit at this preliminary stage. It is imperative that the suit be heard on its merits;” the legal team maintained.
The legal team insists that the claimant is determined to pursue the appeal to ensure justice is done and seen to be done, while urging supporters and all stakeholders to remain calm and law-abiding as the appellate process unfolds, adding that
Senator Nwoko reaffirms his commitment to equity, transparency, party unity, and the progress of Delta State.
