SUPREME COURT DISMISSAL OF APPEAL OF ÚCHE NNAJI: THE TRUE AND CORRECT POSITION
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I have been inundated with inquiries by persons seeking to know the implications of yesterday’s Supreme Court’s dismissal of appeal of Uche Nnaji on the much-awaited Chijioke Edeoga’s petition against Peter Mbah. Here’s the correct position:
Uche Nnaji’s petition was initially struck out by the Tribunal because he did not file his Pre-Trial Notice within 7 days as allowed by the law. The Tribunal did not hear his Petition on the merit. What this means is that the Tribunal, after discovering the defects in the timing of his fillings, did not bother going into his plea for the nullification of the election that brought Peter Mbah to office. He thereafter appealed the decision of the Tribunal and the Court of Appeal sustained the judgement of the Tribunal on the basis that his appeal lacked merit because of the defective filing. He again appealed further to the Supreme Court which relied on another technical ground to refuse Nnaji’s appeal.
According to the Practice Direction at the Supreme Court, briefs of arguments at the apex Court are not supposed to be more than 40 pages. Nnaji’s lawyers filed appellant’s brief that was more than 40 pages and the Supreme Court did not again bother looking at whether the initial striking out at the Tribunal, which necessitated the appeal in the first place, was right or wrong or whether Nnaji’s argument that Peter Mbah was not qualified to contest the election had merit or not. The court therefore, on the above basis, struck out Nnaji’s petition again.
So, from the above, you can now understand that no court or tribunal has decided on the issue of who won Enugu State Governorship Election or the issue of Peter Mbah’s qualification to stand for the election.
I therefore, urge the anxious reading public to discountenance whatever they have been reading in some sections of the media. They are simply products of Enugu State’s resources being wasted in a futile attempt to dish out a media narrative meant to hoodwink the unsuspecting public.
