It was gloomy and sad moments for all the supporters of Chike Obidigbo and Chief Maxi Okwu as the Supreme Court threw out the appeal brought by Chike Obidigbo asking it to declare him the governor of the state on the strength that he was allegedly nominated by the Maxi Okwu faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) as its gubernatorial candidate for the November 2013 governorship election in Anambra State.
Associates close to the duo said they had prepared for a heavy celebration of their victory at the Supreme court but were shocked that their request were thrown out by the Apex court.
But Obiano and Chief Victor Umeh are celebrating their victory with PGA members all over the place while waiting for the 22nd judgment on Ngige and Nwoye appeal to the supreme court.
Odogwuemekaodogwu.blogspot.com reports that the court has also set aside September 22, 2014, to deliver judgment in the multiple appeals challenging the election of Governor Willie Obiano brought by the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Chris Ngige, his party and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its governorship candidate, Tony Nwoye.
In the case of Obidigbo’s appeal, the apex court, in a unanimous judgment by a seven-man panel of justices of the court presided over by Justice Mahmud Mohammed, held that the appeal having been filed out of time in contravention of the practice direction, was incompetent and accordingly dismissed.
Justice Mohammed in his judgment held: “The motion filed on September 4, wherein the applicant sought orders for an extension of time to appeal against the judgment of the Court of Appeal, Enugu Division, delivered on the 25th and to deem the appellant’s brief of arguments as properly filed and served, because according to the counsel, the Supreme Court’s practice direction was merely addressed to the court and as such the court can exercise discretion.
Efforts to get Obidigbo or Maxi Okwu to speak failed even as Obiano and Umeh were celebrating their victory all round.