ABUJA--The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja, has nullified the Federal High Court judgement sacki g Senator Ifeanyi Ubah of the Young Peoples Party, YPP, as the lawmaker representing Anambra South Senatorial District.
The court, in a unanimous judgement by a three-man panel of Justices led by Justice Stephen Adah, held Thursday that the April 11, 2019, ruling of the Abuja High Court removing Ubah from the Senate, was defective as it was based on incompetent court processes.
The pànel stated that the originating Summon was not duly signed by any legal practitioner as required by law, even as theHigh Court Rules made it mandatory that such legal document must be duly signed.
"Validity of an Originating Process is a sine qua non", the appellate court held, saying "a document that is not signed is a worthless piece of paper that lacks integrity," the justices said.
Adah who read the judgement, said the High Court acted wrongly by dismissing a motion filed Ubah to draw its attention to anomalies in the processes as well as the fact that he was not served with a copy of the suit which led to his removal from the Senate.
"The lower court which gave a void decision was not functus-officio to set-aside its order that is a nullity," Adah further said, pointing that Ubah's suit was not caught up by section 285 of the 1999 Constitution which made it mandatory that an appeal must be lfiled within 14 days after delivery of judgement.
Furthermore, the court said there was no evidence before that Ubah was served with any hearing notice before the lower court gave its judgement against him.
"Any breach of the right of the Appellant, vitiated the entire proceeding. The right of fair hearing is very fundamental and very sacrosanct. Once it is breached in a proceeding, every order therefrom amounts to nullity," it added, stressing that the Abuja High Court lacked territorial jurisdiction to entertain the suit whivj bordered on an election that was conducted in Anambra State.
"The lower court clearly had no jurisdiction to entertain that matter. Its decision in the case therefore amounted to a nullity and must not be allowed to stand.
"The decision being a nullity, the Appellant was right to appeal against it. The appeal of the Appellant is hereby allowed," Ada also said, as he vacated the judgement of the High Court and gave an order of perpetual injunction restraining the Clerk of the National Assembly from giving any effect to the judgemrmt of the lower court
Adah also awarded N250, 000 each against the plaintiff in the case at the lower court, Mr. Anani Chuka and the senatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Dr. Uzoh, who was a beneficiary of the judgement.
Justice Bello Kawu, had while sitting at the FCT High at Kubwa, sacked Ubah from the Senate over the allegation that he used a forged National Examination Council, NECO, certificate to contest the senatorial election held in Anambra South on February 23, 2019.
Kawu directed INEC to withdraw the Certificate of Return issued to Ubah and issue a fresh one to Dr Uzoh, of the PDP, as the valid winner of the election.
However, Ubah, pleaded lack of fair hearing by the lower court, saying he was not served any of the processes.
