The Court of Appeal Abuja has slammed a N1 million fine on David Atita, a counsel to Liberation Movement, one of the political parties deregistered by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in 2020, for what it termed a waste of judicial time of the court.
Liberation Movement had appealed against the July 24, 2020, judgement of a Federal High Court, Abuja which dismissed its suit seeking the restoration of its registration which was cancelled, along with other political parties by INEC after the 2019 general elections.
The party had prayed the court to determine whether INEC has the power to deregister it and for the Court of Appeal to determine whether the trial court was right to hold that it failed to prove that it is entitled to the reliefs sought.
Liberation Movement was deregistered for its inability to meet the minimum constitutional requirements of election victories in the 2019 general elections as stipulated in Section 225(a) of the Nigerian Constitution.
Justice Okon Abang held in a judgement on Friday that the appeal filed on behalf of the party by its counsel was a waste of the judicial time of the court.
He said that the appeal was an academic exercise when it was argued in November last year because the Supreme Court had conclusively settled similar issues in 2021 in the case of National Unity Party verses INEC.
He said the counsel was stubborn and hardened when counsel to INEC advised him to withdraw the appeal in view of the judgement of the Supreme Court in the case of National Unity Party verses INEC.
Besides, Justice Abang held in the unanimous judgment of the Court of Appeal that the appellant failed to prove that it met the minimum constitutional requirements of election victories in the 2019 poll as stipulated in Section 225 (a) of the Nigerian Constitution.
He said the Court of Appeal has no power to interpret the clear and unambiguous provision of Section 225(a) of the 1999 constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria, as amended.
The Judge held that the trial court did a good job in its judgement and the interpretation of Section 225(a) of the constitution and added that, the trial court cannot be faulted by the appellant.
Justice Abang said, the trial court was right when it held that the appellant failed to prove its case and added that the appellant did not win any election to any offices mentioned in Section 225(a) of the constitution.
He consequently dismissed the appeal and awarded a cost of N1 million to be paid to INEC personally by the counsel to the party.
The trial Judge, Justice Anwuri Chikere, of the Federal High Court in Abuja dismissed the suit filed by Liberation Movement to challenge its deregistration by INEC for breaching Section 225 (a) of the Nigerian Constitution by failing to meet the minimum conditions stipulated in it.
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