Rochas and Madumere. |
Yesterday, Imo State High Court
witnessed legal fireworks between Imo State Deputy Governor’s legal team led by
Chief Ken Njemanze (SAN) backed by Professor Francis Dike (SAN) and Counsels to
Imo State House of Assembly led by the Attorney-General of Imo State, Mr.
Miletus Nlemadim.
In a
motion filed on behalf of the Plaintiff, Prince Madumere, the Senior Advocate
of Nigeria, had prayed the Presiding Judge, Hon. Justice Benjamin Iheka, to set
aside the purported impeachment of the Deputy Governor, describing the alleged
action as illegal since there was a subsisting court order made in High Court 8
also presided over by Justice Iheka.
The
Senior Advocate told the court that the alleged action of lawmakers was meant
to ridicule Imo State High Court of competent jurisdiction. He therefore called
on the presiding Judge to invoke the inherent powers of the court to address
the violation so as to avoid subjecting the court to ridicule.
Njemanze
(SAN), revealed that there were constitutional breach in the constitution of
the 7 man panel, arguing that the Chief Judge, Hon. Justice Paschal Nnadi allegedly
failed to set the said panel within the specified 7 days prescribed by the
Constitution, thereby rendering the panel null, void and of no effect.
“When
the Constitution says that the CJ must act within the specified time, he must
comply, otherwise his act thereafter will be null, void and of no effect. The
prescribed time cannot be enlarged or extended without doing extensive harm to
the Constitution and the aggrieved party.
“From
the facts before this honourable Court, the CJ appointed the seven-man panel on
July 20, 2018, and the Defendants clearly confirmed this date in their counter
affidavits. The appointment was made nine days after the motion by the House of
Assembly and the request of the Assembly Speaker.
We
urge this honourable court to hold that having done so outside the stipulated
time, the appointment of the seven-man panel by the CJ is null, void and of no
effect.
“The
alleged submission of the panel report is very doubtful and indeed, false. Who
prepared the document? Who signed it? The court can’t be left to speculate on
these issues. This purported report made by the panelists, is in the custody of
the second to 10 defendants.
“They
did not find it worthy to exhibit the document in court. The presumption on our
side is that no such document exists and the court should so hold.”
Continuing,
he queried the purported report of the panel, which he showed to the court,
which had no signatory neither was the name of any of the members of the panel
found on it, describing it as a mere piece of paper.
However,
the lead Counsel to the Speaker and Imo State House of Assembly, Chief Onyechi
Ikpeazu (SAN) described Njemanze’s call for the court to invoke its inherent
powers to protect itself from ridicule against any members of the parties in
the suit as a dangerous invitation tacitly to punish his clients.
In a
swift argument, Attorney-General, argued that the court has no jurisdiction to
determine the impeachment case filed by the plaintiff, thereby calling for its
dismissal, which was vehemently opposed by Prince Madumere’s lead Counsel.
To
the consternation of many, the Attorney-General of the State also raised the
issue of non-service of the originating summon and other court processes on the
defendants, especially that of the members of the panel. It will be recalled
that that the Presiding Judge had granted an order allowing the plaintiff to
serve the members of the said 7 man panel through the office of the Chief Judge
since they were allegedly unknown to them.
The
Counsels to the plaintiff and that of the defendants were able to make all
their submissions and the court was adjourned to an undisclosed date. The
presiding Judge, promised to contact Counsels to the parties in the matter
through text messages.
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