THE Court of Appeal in Makurdi, the Benue State capital headed
by Justice Ahmed Tsamiya has stopped hearing on all election petition
matters involving the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).
Investigations revealed that the embargo was in lieu of the several petitions the ACN wrote against the judges of the appeal court before the National Judicial Commission, (NJC).
A source said the judges were angry with the party over several petitions written against them and viewed the action as unnecessarily targeted at demeaning their hard earned integrity.
At yesterday’s sitting to determine the issue of 180 days in the matter between the governor of the state, Dr. Gabriel Suswam and Prof. Steve Ugbah of the ACN, the court referred to a petition by the state ACN dated December 31, 2011 and addressed to the NJC indicating lack of confidence in them and decided to send the appeal to the president of the Court of Appeal probably to be reassigned to another court.
It would be recalled that a similar petition was instituted against the court last year at the height of the case involving the former Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Hon. Tarhemen Tarzoor of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Hon. Avine Agbum of the ACN. The party alleged that the judges received gratification to the tune of N17 million to pass judgment in favour of the former speaker.
This allegation was however proved wrong as the court eventually sacked the speaker and ruled in favour of Agbum.
Reacting to the development, D. D. Dodo, (SAN) representing Governor Suswam said: “What can we do, the court said it cannot hear it.”
The state’s Chairman of ACN, Comrade Abba Yaro told The Guardian on telephone that his party was not bothered by the decision of the appeal court as the president of the court would constitute a fresh panel to hear the matter.
Investigations revealed that the embargo was in lieu of the several petitions the ACN wrote against the judges of the appeal court before the National Judicial Commission, (NJC).
A source said the judges were angry with the party over several petitions written against them and viewed the action as unnecessarily targeted at demeaning their hard earned integrity.
At yesterday’s sitting to determine the issue of 180 days in the matter between the governor of the state, Dr. Gabriel Suswam and Prof. Steve Ugbah of the ACN, the court referred to a petition by the state ACN dated December 31, 2011 and addressed to the NJC indicating lack of confidence in them and decided to send the appeal to the president of the Court of Appeal probably to be reassigned to another court.
It would be recalled that a similar petition was instituted against the court last year at the height of the case involving the former Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Hon. Tarhemen Tarzoor of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Hon. Avine Agbum of the ACN. The party alleged that the judges received gratification to the tune of N17 million to pass judgment in favour of the former speaker.
This allegation was however proved wrong as the court eventually sacked the speaker and ruled in favour of Agbum.
Reacting to the development, D. D. Dodo, (SAN) representing Governor Suswam said: “What can we do, the court said it cannot hear it.”
The state’s Chairman of ACN, Comrade Abba Yaro told The Guardian on telephone that his party was not bothered by the decision of the appeal court as the president of the court would constitute a fresh panel to hear the matter.
