Mr. Kenneth Udeze was fined N1 million on Tuesday by a Federal High Court (FHC) in Abuja for pretending to be the Action Alliance’s (AA) national chairman.
In a ruling, Justice Binta Nyako said that both Udeze and his lawyer, S.C. Uchendu, had to pay the amount because they had used the legal system in a bad way.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Udeze and Vernimbe James requested to be included in a lawsuit brought by AA against the Independent National Electoral Commission in a motion on notice with the following designation: FHC/ABJ/CS/1871/2022 (INEC).
Through their attorney, the pair requested that they be included as co-respondents to the lawsuit in a motion dated and filed on November 28, 2022. James claimed to be the national secretary of the party, whereas Udeze claimed to be the national chairman.
The parties requested that the court issue an order telling the applicant (AA) to serve them with all documents related to the lawsuit.
They claimed that they were important and relevant parties in the situation.
They say that these people who want to join are the Action Alliance’s national chairman and secretary, positions that have been confirmed by the court.
They maintained, among other things, that they must be joined in order for the suit to be fully and effectively decided.
However, the AA’s attorney, Oba Maduabuchi, SAN, contested the joinder request.
According to him, a party can only be added to a case if the court’s judgement will have an impact on that party.
“However, it is not required if an issue will not harm him.”
“In this case, the applicant (Udeze) claims to be a national chairman, but three different courts have ruled against him.
He stated, “Exhibit A is a decision of the Court of Appeal rendered on January 7, 2022.”
He used the court’s ruling to say that it was “unarguable” that Udeze’s suspension and expulsion from AA had not been reversed by the right people or by a court decision.
He emphasised that his expulsion and suspension are still in effect.
Maduabuchi said that an FHC ruling in Exhibit B also backed the decision to kick Udeze out.
He claimed that the lower court’s ruling was based on Exhibit A, citing paragraphs 15 and 16 of the exhibit.
Using the rule of stare decisis, the judge “decided that this application is a waste of time and a nuisance,” he said.
The senior attorney said that when the verdict was also appealed, the Court of Appeal said that the case was over because it was impossible to challenge his suspension and then expulsion.
He also said that Justice Zainab Abubakar of an FHC in Abuja had ruled in a related case that Udeze didn’t have the right to make such an application and was instead an invasive interloper.
“My lord, the Court of Appeal said that Udeze is not a national chairman in another ruling in Ibadan on Nov. 11,” he added.
The court should reject Udeze’s plea for joinder, according to Maduabuchi.
Justice Nyako ruled that, despite being suspended and ultimately expelled from the party, Udeze was not a member of AA, contradicting the opinions of three other judges and the Appeal Court.
The judge referred to the behaviour as “an abuse of the process” and held that Udeze was now engaging in forum shopping.
As a result, she set a hearing date of January 16 and ordered Udeze and his attorney, Uchendu, to pay the N1 million fine.
According to NAN, AA sued INEC as the only respondent in the case.
The party is asking the court to order the electoral umpire to upload all of the names of the candidates for governor and state legislature who were forwarded to it by Dr. Adekunle Omo-Rufusi. Aje’s
In a related case, where the party also sued INEC, Justice Zainab Abubakar told INEC to accept and publish the names of the presidential and national assembly candidates that the party’s leadership under Omo-Aje had sent to it.
At AA’s national congress, it was said that Solomon-David Okanigbuan would be the party’s candidate for president.
But retired Maj. Hamza Al-Mustapha, a former adviser to the late Gen. Sani Abacha, also triumphed in the June 9 presidential primary poll in Abuja, which was organised by the Udeze-led faction.
All of the candidates that Udeze’s team brought to the election official were accepted.
(NAN)
