SaharaReporters on Thursday reported that Odinkalu described the apex court’s action on Obi’s appeal as “Supreme scandal and height of judicial malefaction” while reacting to the controversies trailing the apex court’s failure to release the Certified True Copy (CTC) of its judgment on Obi’s case after over a month it dismissed the appeals of Obi and Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for lacking in merit.
The Lamidi Apapa-led faction of the Labour Party (LP) has scolded a former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Prof Chidi Odinkalu, for describing the Supreme Court’s failure to present a documented judgment on the appeal of Peter Obi, as a “Supreme scandal and height of judicial malefaction.”
SaharaReporters on Thursday reported that Odinkalu described the apex court’s action on Obi’s appeal as “Supreme scandal and height of judicial malefaction” while reacting to the controversies trailing the apex court’s failure to release the Certified True Copy (CTC) of its judgment on Obi’s case after over a month it dismissed the appeals of Obi and Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for lacking in merit.
SaharaReporters on October 26 reported that the Supreme Court affirmed the election of President Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), after it upheld the judgment of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal that dismissed Obi and Atiku’s appeals for lacking in merit.
While the apex court released the CTC of its judgment on Atiku’s case almost a month after it delivered its ruling, the court has not released the same document on Obi’s case, prompting Obi and the Labour Party to raise an alarm over the court’s action.
Reacting to Odinkalu’s comment, the Apapa-led faction of the Labour Party on Friday in a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Abayomi Arabambi, said that the comment by Odinkalu, a professor of law, was an “explicit exhibition and display of manifest ignorance of judicial jurisprudence.”
The party stated that “For the benefit of the general public, the Apapa-led National Working Committee of our great Party wishes to set the records straight as this political hawks are trying their best to impugn on the credibility of the justices of the supreme Court
“The Supreme Court held that the judgment in the appeal filed by the Labour Party will abide by the judgment delivered in the PDP case.
“The reason for this is very simple. The Supreme Court, having carefully considered all the issues raised by both parties in the two appeals, saw that they were the same.
“The facts were the same and the arguments were even substantially the same. It will serve no utilitarian value for the court to write two judgments on facts and issues that are entirely the same.
“The Supreme Court does not have to conduct special proceedings first to be able to do that. It’s a matter of procedure and having held that the Obi’s appeal will abide by the decision of Atiku's case, this implies that the judgment delivered in Atiku also qualifies as Obi’s judgment.
“There is no need in law for the court to prepare a different judgment for Obi or the Labour Party. It will be cosmetic surplusage for the court to prepare a different judgment for LP or Obi.
“Please, Peter Obi and his followers should please be guided.”