The Imo State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC has expressed joy over the landmark judgement of the Supreme Court affirming the election of MacDonald Kelechi Ebere as the rightful chairman of the APC in Imo State.
This followed the majority judgment of the apex court set aside an earlier ruling by an Abuja High Court, which recognized Mr Dan Nwafor as the chairman, an action which the national leadership of our party challenged up to the supreme court.
Recall that Dan Nwafor through one Evans Enwerem had challenged the dissolution of the Imo APC executive committee from the ward to state in the run-up to the 2019 general election on account of gross abuse of office and anti-party activities.
However, in the Supreme Court judgment read by Justice Adamu Jauro on behalf of four other justices, it was held that the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court, lacked jurisdiction to have heard the suit ab initio.
“The trial court lacked the territorial jurisdictional competence to have entertained the suit in the first place, hence rendering the decision it reached a nullity,” the judgment read
The Supreme Court went further thus: “The law is settled that a suit should be filed in the High Court of the state in which the facts constituting the cause of action occurred that is the High Court of the state in which the events occurred”.
It further held that for the first respondent to have left Imo State, where the events in dispute occurred and rushed to Abuja to file the suit amounted to” forum shopping and a gross abuse of court processes”
Therefore, the Supreme Court struck out the appeal and the suit together with the processes filed right from the trial court.
Cajetan Duke, State Publicity Secretary of the party in a statement said that beyond the participation of Imo delegates at the just concluded national convention led by Hon Macdonald Ebere as the only recognized state chairman, this judgement has finally been sealed and laid to rest the question of the authentic chairman of the APC in the state.
“While we celebrate the judgement, we equally commend our party men and women for their rare comportment and discipline in the face of unwarranted provocation by persons on a hatchet job to undermine the credibility and popularity of our great party. Finally, light has taken its glory over darkness”.
