FRONT PAG
The Supreme Court has unanimously dismissed an appeal filed by former chairmen of local government areas in Imo State, led then by Barrister Enyinna Onuegbu.
The five-member panel held that the appeal was without merit, affirming the earlier judgment of the Court of Appeal, Owerri division.
Justice Sadiq Abubakar Umar delivered the lead judgment, stating that the suit was an abuse of court process.
The Court of Appeal had earlier upheld the decision of the trial court, which dismissed the suit for being an abuse of court process.
Imo State’s Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, C. O. C. Akaolisa (SAN), commended the apex court for its decision.
Akaolisa stated that the decision has cleared the way for Imo State to conduct local government elections.
He claimed that state government had awaited the outcome of the case to conduct elections at the local government level.
The immediate past Governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha, had sacked the elected local government chairmen in June 2011.
The ex-local government bosses filed two suits challenging their sack, but the trial court declared one of the cases an abuse of court process.
The Court of Appeal affirmed the decision, which the ex-LG chiefs further appealed to the Supreme Court.