TELL Magazine

A three-man panel of the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has affirmed the suspension of Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole as the national chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC. An Abuja High Court had in March restrained Oshiomhole from parading himself as national chairman of the party following his suspension by his Ward 10 in Etsako West local government area of Edo State. Oshiomhole had challenged the jurisdiction of the court to entertain the suit. He also challenged his suspension. But the appellate court on Tuesday in a unanimous judgment delivered by Justice Mohammed Lamido, ruled that the trial court, FCT High Court, had territorial jurisdiction to entertain the suit. The court also retrieved Oshiomhole’s rights and privileges as national chairman of the party, including his security details.

The appellate court predicated its decision on the grounds that Adams Oshiomhole as the first appellant based in Abuja while the APC also has its national headquarters in Abuja. Delivering judgment on the second appeal, the court disagreed with Oshiomhole that the right to fair hearing was breached. Justice Lamido further held that there was no basis for the two appellants to hold that they were denied fair hearing during proceedings at the trial court. It affirmed that Oshiomhole’s suspension from ward 10 of Etsako West local government area of Edo State was ratified at the ward level, local government and state levels as required by law and that the identities of those who suspended Oshiomhole were not in doubt because it was not challenged in his affidavit and so it was not in doubt that they were members of APC. Lamido therefore held that the appeal filed by Oshiomhole lacked merit. In both cases, the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeals filed by Oshiomhole and his party, the All Progressives Congress.

Oshiomhole’s sack came on a day the embattled governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki and his deputy, Phlip Shaibu resigned from the ruling party and had been holding intense negotiations with the major opposition party in the state, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.