Supreme Court ‎dismisses suit seeking to remove Wada

The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a suit seeking to remove Kogi State governor, Idris Wada, from office.

The apex court, in a unanimous judgment delivered by the Justice Tanko Muhammed-led appeal panel, dismissed the suit which was instituted by the defunct Congress for Progressive Change.

The CPC on August 31, 2013 merged with other political parties to become the All Progressives Congress.

In its judgment on Friday, the Supreme Court held that the appeal filed by the CPC after it merged with other political parties into the APC, was as dead as the party itself which initiated it.

The court upheld the contention by the PDP and Wada in their separate notices of preliminary objection challenging the application by the CPC seeking to substitute its name as the appellant with the APC.

Justice Muahammed held, “My noble lordship, consequent upon the final and irretrievable death of CPC on July 31, 2013, no appeal or any process for the matter is maintainable in the name of CPC before any court of law. If there is (or are) then that appeal or process or anything hinged on the appeal is afflicted by the death of its initiator (the appellant – CPC).

“Such an appeal or process is as well dead and lacks legal capacity to be maintained.

“The well known dictum of Lord Dening is that one cannot put something on nothing and expect it to stand. It will certainly collapse.”

The court also‎ ordered CPC to pay N100,000 as cost to each of the Peoples Democratic Party and Wada who were the second and third respondents respectively.

Other defendants in the suit were the Independent National Electoral Commission, APC, ANPP, Ubolo Okpanachi and James Ocholi (SAN).

The appellant, had through its suit initiated at the Federal High Court, challenged the election of Wada and his qualification to contest the governorship election in the state.

CPC had appealed to the Supreme Court after the Court of Appeal threw out its suit challenging the decision of a Federal High Court which had dismissed the suit on the grounds of lack of jurisdiction.

The appeal court had in a unanimous judgment delivered by Justice I.T.A. George-Mbama, held that the issues raised in the appeal were electoral matters that should have been taken to the state’s Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal set up with respect to the December 3, 2011 which produced Wada as governor.

The court affirmed and upheld the decision of the trial court.