Supreme Court has asked Chief Edozie Njoku to formally write to it, in accordance with its rules, to correct the accidental slip in the judgment that reinstated him as the authentic national chairman of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) instead of Chief Victor Oye.
It will be recalled that a judgment of a panel of the apex court headed by Justice Mary Odili, now retired, had reinstated Njoku but made a clerical error that retained Oye’s name instead of Njoku’s.
The development had longed pitched both men in feudal tussle over the soul of the party.
Writing in the acknowledgment of a letter by Njoku to confirm the Supreme Court judgment between Chief Jude Okeke and APGA (and 3 ORS), the apex court on January 19, 2023 advised Njoku to file the request appropriately, saying it cannot reverse itself on a judgment based on a clerical issue.
The letter, signed by the Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court, Hajo Sarki Bello, Esq on behalf of the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Olukayode Ariwoola, addressed to Njoku as the APGA national chairman and sighted by the newspaper read in part:
“What you ought to have done is to bring an application pursuant to Order 8, Rule 16 of the rules of this court, seeking to correct the accidental slip in the judgement
“Consequent upon the foregoing, you are hereby advised to fill the necessary application for same as provided in the Court’s rules as follows:
“The Court shall not review my judgement once given and delivered by it save to correct any clerical mistake or some error arising from any accidental slip or omission or to vary the judgement or order so as to give effect to its meaning or intention.
“A judgement or order shall not be varied when it currently represents what the Court decided nor shall the operative and substantive part of it by varied and a different form substituted.”
Njoku
Reacting in Abuja on Saturday, Njoku said that the Supreme Court letter has reaffirmed him as the authentic national Chairman of APGA.
He added that the letter has also cleared him of forgery allegations leveled against by the Police for which he was remanded for two days at Suleja Prisons by an FCT High Court sitting in Bwari Area council late last year.
He said: “By its letter dated January 19, 2023, the Supreme Court has settled the matter by acknowledging Suit No: SC/CV/687/2021, which was the suit I instituted against Chief Jude Okeke against the Jigawa judgment as the National Chairman that was wrongfully removed from office.
“But the desperation of some overzealous politicians, who was not party to the suit, took a deadly toll on the matter.
“We hope that in the coming days APGA would take its rightful place and participate in the general elections as the legendary third force in Nigeria’s politics.
“Observably, the letter from the Supreme Court has absolved my National Working Committee (NWC) and myself from all allegations of forgery.
“It has also proven beyond all reasonable doubt that the corrected judgment of May 9, 2022 truly exists.”
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