Imo LG Tenure: Court Rules On Jurisdiction, Sept 3

An Owerri High Court, has adjourned till September 3, ruling
on whether it has jurisdiction in a case filed by 27 local government chairmen
in Imo over their tenure.

The claimants filed the suit urging the court to order that
they be allowed to serve out their tenure which was terminated by the governor
on assumption of duty in June 2011.

The Court of Appeal had in July re-instated the council
chairmen who were elected under the canopy of the PDP.

The high court, presided over by Justice Ngozi Opara, had
earlier restrained the governor from dissolving the council on August 8.

The court, however, vacated the ex parte order on August 9.

Consequently, the state government on August 10 announced
the dissolution of the re-instated councils.

The governor said he relied on the Imo State Local
Government Administration Law 15 of June 2010, which stipulated two year tenure
for the councils.

Arguing his motion challenging the court’s jurisdiction on
Thursday, Chief Niyi Akintola (SAN), counsel to the first defendant, said the
court lacked jurisdiction over the matter.

Akintola pointed out that the claimants questioned the
constitutionality of the governor to bring to effect, the extant law of the
state by dissolving the council.

He argued that the claimants’ plea that they be allowed to
be in office after August 8, 2012, amounted to asking the court to elongate
their tenure.

The senior advocate submitted that no court had the power to
extend the tenure of any elected officer in the country by even an hour.

He also told the court that the claimants had also filed
another suit at the Federal High Court in Abuja on the same matter, insisting
that it was an abuse of court process.

He urged the court to strike out the case because
entertaining it amounted to an abuse of court process.

Also, the second defendant, Mr Soronnadi Njoku, who is the
Attorney-General of the state, argued that since the claimants pleaded two-year
tenure which was granted by the Appeal Court, their action in the high court
was an abuse of court process.

Njoku submitted that it was proper for cases to proceed from
lower courts to the appellate court and not vice versa.

Replying, the counsel to the claimants, Dr Livy Uzoukwu
(SAN), argued that the court had an unfettered power to entertain any case as
provided for in the constitution.

Uzoukwu, represented by Mr S.O. Agbo, argued that the court
should not look at the counter affidavit but at the questions formulated in the
claimants’ affidavit.

He argued that the question was whether the claimants had
the right to regain the lost time in their tenure.

He argued further that the claimants started in February
2010 the electoral process under the state Local Government Administration Law
which stipulated three-year tenure for the councils.