With less than two weeks to the Ondo State governorship election, the Senator Ali Modu Sheriff-led faction of the of the Peoples Democratic Party, has asked the Supreme Court to stay all proceedings in respect of the Appeal Court special panel constituted by the court of Appeal president Zainab Bulkachuwa to hear all appeals PDP pending the determination of its appeal at the Supreme Court.
The appellants in the notice of appeal, filed by their counsel , B.E.F Nwofor (SAN), before the Supreme Court of Nigeria on November 11,2016, challenged the decision of the panel that allowed the application filed Mr. Eyitayo Jegede (SAN), challenging the judgement of the Federal High Court that ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission to substitute his name with that of Jimoh Ibrahim.
They also challenged the decision of the panel in which it refused to disband itself.
The appellants in the notice of appeal is praying an order of the court to stay all further proceedings and further hearing in appeal No. CA/A/551C/2016: between Mr.Eyitayo Jegede and Prince Biyi Poroye and 10 others pending the hearing and determination of the appeal filed on 11,November 2016 by the appellants at the Supreme Court of Nigeria against the the rulings delivered by the special panel of the court of appeal presided over by Justice Ibrahim Salauwa on November 10,2016.
The appellants also prayed the Supreme Court to take notice of the proceedings in the list court of November 7th 2016, where the appellants herein, as 1-9 respondents in the court below, raised the issue of jurisdiction of the court below to hear the motions pending before it on various grounds including the ground that there was no valid notice of appeal filed in the court below.
The appellants in the 6 ground raised contended that the learned justices erred in law when the held that the decision of the President, Court of Appeal PCA, to constitute a special panel to preside over the Ondo appeals was not against the normal administrative functions of her office.
They argued, among others, that the three-member tribunal, led by Justice Ibrahim Salauwa,erred in law and was in breached of S 36 of the the 1999 constitution in its decision that allowed the 1st respondent (Jegede) leave to appeal against the decision of the Federal High court of October 14.
Prince Biyi Poroye asked the Supreme Court to, among others, set aside the verdict of the court of Appeal and grant all his reliefs as contained in his petition.
Poroye and the other 8 appellants also argued that the panel was wrong to regard the unchallenged depositions as speculative when there was nothing on their record that made the depositions far-fetched whereby the existence of the special panel confirmed such.
The appellants, who noted in their ground 5 (a) of the appeal that the affidavit in support of the application was neither challenged nor controverted by the by the respondents to the application added that the special panel failed to apply the principle of law that the rules of natural Justice equally apply to both judicial and administrative decisions.
The appellants further prayed the Supreme Court to allow the appeal, and to also set aside the ruling of the lower court refusing the application of the appellants for: The setting aside of the decision of the president of the court of appeal giving a special dispensation and settled up a special panel of the Justices of the Court of appeal for the hearing of the motion of Jegede against the decisions of Justice Okon Abang of October 14, 2016.
Also in another appeal filed by Prince Biyi Poroye against Senator Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi and 3 ors, at the Supreme Court, the appellants prayed the Supreme Court to to take judicial notice of the appellants dissatisfaction with the decision of the Court of Appeal of 10, November, 2016.
They maintained in their ground one of the appeal that the appeal court failed by law to have held that they had no jurisdiction to entertain the motion filed by the 1and 2 respondents on November 2.
They prayed the Apex court to grant all the 7 reliefs sought in favour of the applicants and to also allow the appeal.
Meanwhile, a letter from the Supreme Court confirming the notice of appeal dated 14, November and signed by one Josephine Ekperobe has been transmitted to the court of appeal.
No date has been fixed for the heating of the appeal.
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