The Court of Appeal sitting in Makurdi on Wednesday struck out the Notice of Appeal filed by the Benue State Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr Benjamin Omale. This was sequel to events that rendered the issue unnecessary for judicial resolution.
The appeal, tagged CA/MKD/1199/2024 was filed by Dr Omale, against a ruling of the lower court which had earlier pronounced judgement in favour of Mr Augustine Agada as State Chairman of the APC in Benue State.
But before the appeal was heard in the appellate court, a major occurrence changed the political and legal terrain of the conflict.
But following the expiration of Mr Agada’s tenure, a new State Congress of the APC was held in Benue State where Dr Omale emerged as the substantive State Chairman.
Following this development, Dr Omale formally moved to withdraw the appeal on the ground that the subject matter had been overtaken by events and no longer constituted a live conflict for the court to adjudicate upon.
The Court of Appeal allowed the application and struck out the appeal by a unanimous decision. There was no longer a live issue to be determined.
The court further directed that each party should pay its own costs.
The verdict effectively ended the appellate processes emanating from the earlier leadership tussle inside the Benue APC.
In his reaction to the development, a top legal practitioner and chairman of the APC in Benue State, Mr Terfa Jirgba, said the finding was a natural consequence of an academic exercise, adding that the expiration of Mr Agada’s tenure had made further litigation superfluous.
He said the judiciary should not be saddled with topics which had become academic. He said the court had acted within its rights to strike out the appeal.
It will be noted that the internal crisis was caused by leadership differences leading to court challenges over the validity of the state executive committee.