The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a suit seeking the removal of Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyiof Enugu State.
Delivering the lead judgment of the apex court, Justice Dattijo Muhammad, dismissed the case which was filed against the governor by a former Senator representing Enugu-North Senatorial District, Ayogu Eze.
Eze had through his suit challenged the emergence of Ugwuanyi as the Peoples Democratic Party’s governorship candidate in the party’s primary election conducted on December 4, 2014.
Ugwuanyi had gone ahead to contest and won the April 2015 governorship election on the PDP platform.
Dismissing Eze’s appeal on Friday, the apex court held that the ex-senator, who did not participate in the disputed primary election, lacked locus standi to challenge the governor’s emergence as the PDP’s candidate.
Affirming the Court of Appeal’s judgment which earlier dismissed Eze’s case, Justice Muhammad, who also led the apex court’s five-man panel, held that the apex court had severally decided on the issues such had the ones canvassed by the former senator.
He awarded a fine of N1m against Eze to be paid to the governor for bringing such case to court again.
“Where this court has severally decided on an issue, it should not be relitigated,” Justice Muhammad ruled.
Other members of the panel agreed with the lead judgment.
-Source : The Punch
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