Ikpeazu flays court registrar over comments on Abia judgments

Abia state Governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, has flayed the Chief Registrar of the Federal High Court, for issuing a statement in respect of the two different judgments delivered by the Federal High Court, Owerri Division and the Federal High Court, Abuja Division on the Abia governorship Tax Certificate dispute.

According to him, the registrar surreptitiously attempted though unsuccessfully to explain to the public the reason of the two judgments, adding that such action amounts to contempt of court.

Speaking through his Special Assistants Legal, Nwakodo Anayo and Dominic Obinna Chimbuo in a statement, yesterday, the governor insisted that the judgments of Courts could only be interpreted by the Court that delivered the said judgment, on application by a party or a higher Court sitting as an Appellate Court on the judgment.

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He said, “The Chief Registrar of the Federal High Court is neither any of the Judges that delivered the two judgments nor the Court of Appeal, Abuja Division or Court of Appeal, Owerri Division, in whose domain the judgments presently reside. The aggrieved parties having appealed these two lower Court judgments.

“It is contemptuous of the Court of Appeal, for the Chief Registrar of the Federal High Court to comment on matters pending before the Court of Appeal in the manner he did in his press release.”

He added that the lame effort by the Chief Registrar, to draw a distinction between the two judgments was an exercise in futility as every discerning mind does not need the Chief Registrar’s explanation to know that the two matters relate to only one set of documents, which is, the Tax Certificates submitted by Governor Ikpeazu to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the course of the 2015 governorship election.

He further maintained that apart from both matters bordering on the eligibility of the candidature of Ikpeazu in the 2015 governorship election, the parties in both Court matters were the same, both of them having Ikpeazu, PDP, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Dr. Uche Ogah and Barrister Friday N. Nwosu.

He said: “Both matters border on the desire of Ogah and Nwosu, both of whom participated in the PDP primaries wherein Governor Ikpeazu emerged as winner to unseat him as not being qualified on the basis of the alleged false information contained in the Tax Certificates submitted by him to the PDP for the primaries.”

He stressed that both Court matters are predicated on the same set of facts and the reliefs being sought are the same, which is that of disqualifying Ikpeazu “contrary to the attempt by the Chief Registrar of the Federal High Court to hoodwink and mislead the public.”

The governor who also flayed Justice Okon Abang, for issuing judgment enforcement order within hours after the decision, which is against the rules and took eight days to issue the written judgment to the aggrieved party. He did not also spare INEC for hastily issuing certificate of return to Ogah, despite the notice of appeal served to the Commission.

He noted that while awaiting the decision of the appellate courts, the latest judgment from Owerri division takes precedent over that of Abuja.