The Court of Appeal in Abuja has set aside the judgement that bars the former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Uche Secondus, the sacked Rivers Governor, Celestine Omehia, and a former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Austin Opara, from appearing at the party’s meetings. The lower court first passed the judgement.
In different judgements on Friday, a three-member panel of the Apeak Court unanimously upheld the appeals the three party members had brought before it. The party chieftains were aggrieved by the decision earlier passed by the court.
In its judgment, the appeal court noted that it had found merit in the appeals filed by the suspended party members. In an earlier judgement, Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja ordered that Secondus, Omehia, and Opara were barred from all the meetings of the party’s National Executive Committee or from participating in any of the activities, including the procedures and deliberations.
The appeal court noted that the political party determines issues of membership and meeting attendance and does not litigate them. The panel elaborated that those were internal issues of the party and out of the court’s jurisdiction.
The panel noted that the Federal High Court should not have heard of such issues because it lacks jurisdiction to determine the suit filed and any suit dealing with the realm of Internal affairs of the political party. It was ruled that all the conduct preceding stands voided.
The order restraining the members by justice Ekwo was also voided by the Appeal Court.
