ALGON Flays Court’s Decision To Hear APC Suit

The caretaker committee chairmen of the 23 local government councils in Rivers State, under the aegis of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), has slammed surreptitious moves by the Court of Appeal to resume hearing on an appeal brought against the state government by former council chairmen elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The former council chairmen had on June 20, 2015, approached the Court of Appeal, Port Harcourt Division, to challenge their sack on July 9, 2015, after they were granted leave by the court to challenge the judgment of the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt that sacked them.
Thereafter, the state government challenged the decision of the Court of Appeal, which granted the plea of the former chairmen to appeal the decision of the lower court before the Supreme Court.
The Tide gathered that the appeal is still pending before the apex court.
Addressing newsmen in Port Harcourt, spokesman of ALGON in the state and Chairman of Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area of the state, Osi Olisa wondered why the Appeal Court will commence hearing on the matter, when it was still pending before the Supreme Court.
Olisa said, “In spite of the appeal now pending and ongoing before the Supreme Court, another proceeding dealing on the same subject matter has been commenced by members of the All Progressives Congress at the Court of Appeal, Port Harcourt vide appeal No: CA/PH/338/2016.
He explained that the aim of the appeal was to force a fait accompli on the Supreme Court in appeal No: SC/536/2016.
“The attention of the Honourable Justices of the Court of Appeal in Port Harcourt Division has been drawn to the proceedings before the Supreme Court but rather than follow the laid down principles in a long line of judicial proceedings which preludes the Court of Appeal from proceeding with a matter when an appeal touching on the matter has been entered in the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal is poised to proceed without regard to the Supreme Court.
“The posture of the Court of Appeal leaves a lot of room for concern because our judicial experience with some justices on the panel of the Court of Appeal has been unsavoury.
“The Court of Appeal intends to proceed with the hearing of the appeal even after finding as a fact that some of the parties have not been served with the processes, and in spite of the several pending motions filed by some of the parties in the matter, including an application for stay of proceeding pending in the hearing of the appeal at the Supreme Court.”
The ALGON spokesman alleged that members of the APC in the state, led by the Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi have been boasting that they will use the Court of Appeal to take over the local government councils in the state.
He stated that the president of the Court of Appeal has already constituted a special panel to hear the matter with a task to deliver a judgement in favour of the APC against all odds.
Olisa said, “Members of the All Progressives Congress led by the Transportation Minister, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi have continued to boast that they will use the Court of Appeal to take over the local government councils in Rivers State.
“We have also received information that a special panel have been constituted by the president of the Court of Appeal to hear the matter and the latest information we have is that the panel has only one task, to deliver a judgement in favour of the APC against all odds.”
The local government council chairmen, therefore, called on the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen and the National Judicial Council to prevail on the special appeal panel from going ahead with its proceedings, noting that the issues before it were allegedly matters already before the Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, Justice Dongbam Mensen of a 3-man special appeal panel set up to entertain petitions on the sacked local government council chairmen on the platform of APC during the administration of former governor, Chibuike Amaechi has adjourned further sitting on the matter to November 6.