The Abuja division of the Court of Appeal has delivered a stinging rebuke to Justice Uche Agomoh of the Federal High Court in Ibadan, ruling that she improperly granted reliefs that no party had requested during the hearing of a dispute within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
In a judgment authored by Justice Uchechukwu Onyemenam, the appellate panel declared that the trial judge overstepped her bounds by validating a factional caretaker committee that was not part of any party’s prayers. The lower court had recognized the committee led by Abdurahman Mohammed and Samuel Anyanwu in its January 30 decision.
Justice Onyemenam noted that the trial judge’s action created a clear legal issue, as she went beyond the scope of the reliefs sought. The court emphasized that such unauthorized recognition of a factional committee undermined the integrity of the proceedings.
The Court of Appeal further stated that the caretaker committee’s legal foundation had been dismantled by a prior Supreme Court ruling that nullified the Ibadan convention, which was the basis for the committee’s creation. Since the Supreme Court had already declared that convention null and void, any structures built upon it, including the caretaker committee, automatically lack legal validity.
Although the appellate court stopped short of explicitly labeling the trial court’s action as ultra petita—a Latin term meaning beyond what is asked—it indicated that the offending parts of the judgment were null and void and liable to be set aside. The panel also refused to order a retrial, reasoning that doing so would invite the lower court to revisit issues already settled by the apex court, which the law forbids.
Justices Mohammed Mustapha and Okon Abang concurred with the lead judgment. The decision effectively nullifies the Federal High Court’s recognition of the caretaker committee aligned with the Abdurahman Mohammed faction of the PDP.