May 23, (THEWILL) – The Chairman, Ebonyi State People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Mr Silas Onu, has dismissed that there was no judgement by the appellate court purportedly ordering his sack from office.
Onu, in an interview in Abakaliki, told journalists that the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) had briefed the lawyer of the earlier sacked Chairman, Tochukwu Okorie, to withdraw their application for stay of execution.
According to him, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) had withdrawn from the appeal, adding that Tochukwu and PDP filed the joint appeal.
“There is no judgement by court of appeal, so I wonder how court of appeal sacked me. It is an interlocutory application of stay of execution, it heard and granted them thier prayer for stay of execution. You will ask yourself what is being said, is it the completed act that is being said, the court of appeal said I have not been given certificate of return.
“It is not in PDP’s constitution to be given certificate of return, does Tochukwu have a certificate of return? In any case, before the rulling was given, PDP which is the first appellate to the case, had briefed Tochukwu’s lawyer to withdraw their application for stay, they are not interested in it, because they have fully implemented the judgement. The lawyer deceived the court, said PDP did not debrief him, that he is still representing PDP.
“The lawyer wants them to adopt the process against the interest of the PDP. So today, PDP went to court of appeal to file notice of discontinuance in the morning, and strangely, the registry of court of appeal refused to accept processes from our litigants.
“It is illegal for court registry to say that a presiding judge told them not to accept processes in this case, is the presiding judge or the registry saying that litigants don’t have rights to discontinue a case?
“So, these are are issues that would be determined subsequently, because we are going to take these ones up separately. However, as I speak to you now, PDP has withdrawn from the appeal, and if they have withdrawn from the appeal, a court order that is precedent upon such appeal cannot stand, because the order is interlocutory.
“If the main case had been withdrawn, the order would also lapse, the reason why it cannot stand is that Tochukwu and PDP filed the joint appeal, it is one process that they filed together.
“So, you cannot separate Tochukwu from PDP. Now if PDP has withdrawn from the appeal, the court must strike out the entire appeal for Tochukwu to go and rewrite his appeal and file again, making PDP a respondent in the new process, and the supreme court’s position on withdrawal of case is that the moment you file it.
“The case dies that day, the day of hearing is the day of burial. The order is based on a case that is pending in court, because they say stay of execution pending the hearing and determination of the appeal, now if there is no appeal to be heard and determined again, it means the order itself dies, so the order they got this morning died this morning, the order cannot stand, so their jubilation is just a waste of time”, Onu argued.
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Sunday Ogbu is a professional journalist with eight - twelve years experience that had worked with various print and online media. Sunday specializes in news reporting with the aim of educating his readers on current social, political and economic occurences within his area of coverage. Sunday is a strong force to work with in the media industry and uses his positive attitude and tireless energy to encourage others to work hard and succeed. Sunday is inspired daily by his wife and their four children. In his free time, Sunday likes sight-seeing, reading and discussing issues of societal interest.
