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Supreme Court declines interpretation on Oduah, Ubah’s status

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Stella Oduah in trouble again, as court freezes 21 accounts

The election of a former Aviation Minister, Stella Oduah and Andy Ubah to the Senate was Wednesday sealed, as the Supreme Court dismissed a motion filed by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC,  seeking clarification of its January 29, 2016 judgment.

The  had been claimed by many Nigerians as a sack of the senators.

But a five-man panel of the court led by Justice Sylvester Ngwuta, ruled that the court does not jurisdiction to entertain the motion.

According to Justice Nyang Okoro, who read the lead ruling of the court, there was no ambiguity in the judgment delivered on January 29 and could not be accommodated under Order 8 Rule 16 of the Supreme Court rules.

Read also: Alleged Scam: Borishade, Oduah lose bid to stop trials

Justice Okoro, who also delivered the earlier  judgment, ruled that the apex court did not resolve the question relating to the legitimacy or otherwise of the list of candidates submitted to INEC for the 2015 National Assembly election by the various factions of the Peoples Democratic Party in Anambra State.

He said: “The competence of a court to exercise jurisdiction in relation to an action before it depends on certain conditions. One of such conditions is that the subject matter of the case is within the jurisdiction of the court and that there is no feature in the case which prevents the court from exercising jurisdiction.

“Order 8 Rule 16 of this court, under which this application is brought states:’ the court shall not review any judgment once given and delivered by it, safe to correct any clerical mistake or some errors arising from any accidental slip or omission, or to vary the order so as to give effect to its meaning or intention. A judgment and order should not be varied when it correctly represents what the court decided nor shall the operative and substantive part of it be varied and in different form, substituted.’

“I must say this court, in an application of this nature, is guided by the above Rule. In view of the above guidance of this Rule, can this court assume jurisdiction to hear the motion seeking clarification of our judgment? I do not think so”.

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