The decision of Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu of the Federal High Court, Abuja, which held that the Executive Order 6 (EO6) issued by President Muhammadu Buhari did not violate the right of citizens to own property has been appealed by two legal practitioners – Ikenga Ugochinyere and Kenneth Udeze.
Delivering judgment on October 11, Justice Ojukwu had ruled that the EO6 was in line with the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, This Day reports.
We gathered that the appellants, however, have approached the appellate court for an order setting aside the decision of Justice Ojukwu, as they are not satisfied with it. They also want the court to allow the reliefs they seek.
The appellants, in the notice filed by their counsel, Obed Agu, stated that the trial judge’s ruling had led to a miscarriage of justice as she had erred in judgment when she found that the EO6 did not violate rights of citizens to own property.
They further argued that the learned trial judge erred in law and occasioned a miscarriage of justice to the appellants when she unilaterally varied and/or modified the express terms of the Executive Order 6 and the constitutional provisions by issuing judicial caution that the powers of the second respondent (attorney-general of the federation), under the Executive Order 6 must be exercised in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which opinion did not arise from the express provision of the Executive Order 6 nor raised before it by any of the parties thereto.
They also informed the Court of Appeal that Justice Ojukwu erred in law and thereby occasioned miscarriage of justice to the appellants when she shut her eyes against the materials placed before her and deliberately failed and/or refused to make specific findings of fact on the issue submitted to it by the appellants.
The appellants further told the court that Justice Ojukwu’s judgment was against the weight of evidence. No date has been fixed for the appeal to be heard.
Meanwhile, we previously reported that President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive for the full execution of Executive Order 6 (EO6), which bans 50 prominent Nigerians from travelling abroad and also seeks to confiscate their assets currently under investigation, was condemned by human rights activist and constitutional lawyer, Mike Ozekhome (SAN).
The legal luminary, reacting to the development, described the directive as an arbitrary and obnoxious act capable of undermining the fundamental rights of the affected persons.
