The Court of Appeal in Abuja has faulted Justice Uche Ogomoh of the Federal High Court in Ibadan, for granting reliefs that were not sought by any of the parties in a dispute involving the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

In a judgment delivered by Justice Uchechukwu Onyemenam of the Court of Appeal, the appellate court held that the trial judge went beyond the reliefs before her when she recognised a factional caretaker committee in the PDP leadership crisis.

The dispute stems from a judgment delivered by Ogomoh on January 30, in which she held that the PDP caretaker committee, led by Abdurahman Mohammed and Samuel Anyanwu, was the legitimate faction of the party.

The Court of Appeal said none of the parties had sought such a declaration.

The appellate court added that if the declaratory and injunctive reliefs sought on appeal had not been tied to the legitimacy of the Ibadan convention already nullified by the Supreme Court, it would have ordered a retrial on the leadership organs purportedly created or validated by the convention.

The court said the legal foundation of the Anyanwu-led caretaker committee recognised by the trial court had been extinguished by the Supreme Court's judgment. It added that revisiting the issue would serve no practical legal purpose.

The Court of Appeal stopped short of expressly describing the trial court's action as ultra petita, a legal doctrine referring to situations where a court grants relief beyond that sought by the parties.

The judgment was supported by Justices Mohammed Mustapha and Okon Abang, the other members of the three-member panel.

The decision effectively nullifies the basis upon which the Federal High Court recognised the caretaker committee linked to the Abdurahman Mohammed faction of the PDP.