Former Legal Adviser of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Jacob Mark, has criticised Samuel Anyanwu for what he described as the height of abuse of court process in an attempt to evade compliance with the judgment that removed him as PDP National Secretary.
Speaking in an interview with ARISE NEWS on Monday, Mark accused Anyanwu of manipulating the judiciary to prolong his stay in office despite multiple rulings against him.
He said, “To the best of my knowledge, there’s no politician that has taken the judiciary for a very big wild goose ride like Anyanwu has done, has enjoyed over the last few months. All the courts that he has travelled to have given judgment against him, And he has refused to comply with all the judgments. He started from the High Court, went to the Court of Appeal, wanted a stay of execution, that was not granted. He rushed to the Federal High Court in Abuja and was seeking the same stay of execution using another case. Luckily, this time around, the court refused to grant him that application, insisting that he should put the other parties on notice. I think the matter was adjourned to this week or next week. He still went to the Supreme Court and filed the same application, seeking a stay of execution on the judgment of the Court of Appeal.
“And for me, that is the height of abuse of a court process. Because every lawyer, at least worth his salt, knows that when there is a declaratory judgment, you don’t go looking for stay of execution. And I feel sorry for him. Probably his lawyers have refused to be very frank with him, or he has also refused to listen to his lawyers, because these are elementary issues that senior lawyers, particularly the ones representing him, should know, that you don’t go about filing spurious applications, left, right, and centre, because you don’t want to comply with the judgment of a court, a valid judgment of the Court of Appeal, not a small area court somewhere, no, the Court of Appeal. So for me, Samuel Anyanwu has enjoyed a lot of leeway. He has had his way all the way, toying with the judiciary and exposing the judges to ridicule by refusing to comply with the simple letters of the judgment. And that is wrong, it should never be condoned. And no lawyer should be found supporting that kind of behaviour.”
Mark then said that it was obvious that Anyanwu is not willing to obey court orders even while he was waiting for the ruling of the Supreme Court, as he explained, “The judgment of the Supreme Court will soon be delivered on a date that they will announce, but while that is pending, all parties are bound to obey the orders of the Court of Appeal. It’s been reported all over the news that Mr. Anyanwu refused to vacate office. Mr. Anyanwu had his boys barricade and threaten people with violence, refusing to allow people to access the office, and so on.
“This is the height of irresponsibility on anybody at all who is depending on the courts to protect his rights. You must be seen to be willing to obey court orders if you want the courts to also give you judgment. So while we wait for the Supreme Court, it is very clear that Samuel Anyanwu is not interested in obeying court orders, especially if they do not answer his question and the orders are not in tandem with his personal desire. And that is wrong. No nation will survive under such a situation.”
