FRESH attempts by the embattled national chairman of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Mr. Victor Umeh, to lift the ex-parte order barring him from parading himself as such by an Enugu High Court presided over by the state's Chief Judge, Justice Innocent Umezulike, suffered a big setback yesterday at the Court of Appeal, Enugu Division.
Ruling on an appeal filed by Umeh for the lifting of the injunction and stay of ruling on the substantive case, the Court of Appeal presided over by Justice Abdulkadir Jega stated that it was at a loss on what the applicant (Umeh) wanted to achieve through his two motions, since, according to him, "the applications on their face value are incompetent".
Earlier before adjourning the matter to November 20, 2012, Jega had invited Umeh to explain whether he was abandoning his first motion dealing with the lifting of the ex-parte order in preference to the second appeal against the ruling by Umezulike on the substantive case for which judgment has been reserved by the High Court.
Umeh, through his counsel, Mr. Patrick Ikwueto (SAN) declined and sought for a brief adjournment to harmonise his positions, even as counsel for Jude Okuli, Mr. Chudi Obieze; insisted that it was improper in law to preempt the judgment of a court since the window for appeal remains open to the parties.
Short of throwing out the ambiguous applications, Jega, assisted by Justice Shodipe Lakolu; asked the embattled chairman to "go back to your drawing board, then come back and tell the court what you think about the two applications".
Umezulike had on July 25, 2012; imposed an interim order restraining Umeh from convening any meeting or parading himself as the national chairman of APGA pending the determination of a suit filed by Jude Okuli, a member of the party in Enugu, complaining that the actions of the embattled chairman, who he said was occupying office illegally, were capable of causing anarchy and chaos in the party.
But dissatisfied by that ruling, Umeh went to the Appeal Court pleading that the ex-parte order be quashed with an additional prayer that judgment on the substantive matter at the High Court be halted owing to the fact that he had earlier expressed reservations over Umezulike's handling of the matter.
Speaking to journalists after the ruling, counsel to the respondent, Okuli; Chudi Obieze said it was not proper to blackmail the court or stay course of justice outside the law. He added that Umeh's preemptive prayers against a judgment that has not been delivered by a court of competent jurisdiction would not succeed.
