A Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court sitting in Kubwa district under Justice Mohammed Ibrahim has set aside the judgment given in favour of tenure elongation for the immediate past chairmen and their councilors, ordering immediate swearing-in of the newly elected chairmen and their councillors.
On May 18, 2022, residents of FCT had received a judgment from the FCT High Court in Kubwa suspending the swearing-in of the elected chairmen and the councillors, which generated confusion in the territory, and the legal team of the FCTA had to seek redress of the judgment in court.
Justice Ibrahim Mohammed while delivering a fresh judgment on Thursday, clarified that everybody is in a learning process, that persons are bound to make mistakes and also bound to make corrections.
He said that it was very clear that some mistakes were made and a judgment was entered, which brought a lot of issues concerning the elongation of the tenure of the outgoing chairmen in the six area councils.
Mohammed further said that in his wisdom, he has vacated that first judgment that was given by him. He thereby directed that the area council chairmen who were elected and issued a certificate of return be sworn in by the minister.
Read also: Tenure Extension: FCTA appeals for calm, pledges to appeal judgment
PDP rejects tenure elongation of FCT area council chairmen, councilors
Spokesperson for Campaign Council and AMAC Chairman-Elect Hon. Emmanuel Iyang, while speaking on the judgment explained that for a while, the battle has been on, which made the Chief Judge of the FCT direct the matter back to the same court that initially issued the first judgment.
“We want to thank the FCT Minister who saw that something went wrong, first he respected the judgment of the court by suspending the swearing-in, which was very right. Then he said that the FCTA is an institution created by law, and as such he will not in any way disobey the law, most especially coming from a court of competent jurisdiction.
“He went further to say that his legal team would seek redress in the court and that they did. Today, based on that redress in court, the judgment has been vacated.
“As I speak with you now, we are believing that the Minister would be served by the court, directing him to swear in the newly elected chairmen. I want to strongly believe that as soon as the Honorable minister is served, the order of the court, he will act immediately,” he said.
He further commended the spirit exhibited by the entire members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who came out to stand for fairness and what is right.
Emmanuel Ukoh
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