Flouting court order: APGA petitions Jega, accuses Umeh of contempt

Posted by African Examiner Latest Headlines, Politics Monday, January 27th, 2014

IGNATIUS OKPARA, Enugu

The Barrister Maxi Okwu led executive of troubled All progressive Grand Alliance APGA, has petitioned the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC National Chairman, professor Atahiru Jega, over alleged court contempt by former National chairman of the party, chief Victor Umeh.

Embattled National Chairman of APGA, Victor Umeh

African Examiner reports that Umeh, was recently sacked by an Abuja High court, following a suit filed by the present national chairman of the party.

According to Okwu who made this known to newsmen Sunday, in Enugu, even with the court judgement, Umeh, is still going about parading him self as the APGA national chairman.

In a petition entitled: RE: Judgment in suit No FHC/ABJ/CS/563/2013, Chief Maxi Okwu & Ors V Chief Victor Umeh and Ors; dated January 27, 2014 and signed by Okwu, alleged that the two sacked officers of the party and “their collaborators have shown utmost contempt for the constitution, rules and regulations of our party, laws of this nation and our law courts.”

He said that the former officers had been behaving contrary to the ruling of the court by still parading themselves as chairman and secretary.

The new exco of the party had reminded the INEC chairman that the duo “in total disobedience to a valid and subsisting final judgment in which your commission and themselves were parties, have been misbehaving as if the country is a jungle where every man is on his own and only the fittest survives.”

It reads in part, “Since judgment was delivered against them on January 15, 2014 to their chagrin, they have used all sorts of unprintable words and dirty language to insult Justice Abdulkadir Kafarati, both privately and in the media.

“On Saturday, January 18 2014, at Awka in a televised show of lawlessness, they gathered and called the gathering of an APGA national executive council meeting.

They also claimed to have called a national convention for Valentine’s Day on 14th February 2014.

“Note that in the letter to you, they style themselves national chairman and secretary in total defiance of the court judgment which sacked them from office. This is quite in their character, since this saga began.”

The petition continued: “Please note that we have since commenced committal proceedings against them for contempt of court with the issuance of Form 48.”

Okwu therefore, urged Prof. Jega to recognize that “our laws proceed from the principle that all court orders, no matter how ‘objectionable’, should be obeyed until vacated or set aside.”

He further explained that a judgment victor/creditor is entitled to immediate enjoyment of the fruits of his victory. “Only in special circumstance would this right be suspended or stayed as an equitable remedy. A contemnor like Umeh and Shinkafi will get no respite from the courts till they purge themselves of their atrocious contempt of the courts and law,” the petitioners declared.

Okwu who pleaded with the INEC boss not to join in undermining the courts, also stressed that they (Umeh and Shinkaffi) seem not to know that an application for stay of execution is not a stay of execution. He stated