Enugu: A’ Court vacates order against fresh congresses

Enugu: A’ Court vacates order against fresh congresses
•Counsel to Chime’s camp files fresh motion
From: PETRUS OBI Enugu
Friday, December 24, 2010

•Chime Photos: Sun News Publishing More Stories on This Section

The Appeal Court sitting in Enugu yesterday vacated an earlier injunction restraining the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from conducting fresh congresses to elect new party executive in the state.

In the lead judgment, Justice Ignatius Agube, ruled that the panel agreed that the jurisdiction of the appellate court was circumscribed by the prevailing circumstances of the appeal.
He stated that the panel sustained the preliminary objection of counsel to the second respondent as meritorious, ruling that the interim order of the appellate court on November 2010 “is hereby suspended.”

The judge also said two other motions filed by the applicants were struck out. Justices Hussein Muktar and Mojeed Owoade corroborated him while the former held that Offiah’s instant motion before the court was quite misplaced. Following the ruling, the Governor Sullivan Chime’s faction moved quickly and filed a fresh motion to stall any fresh congresses while the other camp loyal to the National Chairman of the party, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo were reportedly jubilating over the verdict.

After the ruling, nerves frayed literally outside the court room, as counsel to Vita Abba and 28 others who dragged INEC and the PDP to court over the matter, Mrs. Justina Offiah(SAN) and Prof. Ilochi Okafor (SAN) with Dr. Mike Ajogwu (SAN), countered each other.
While Okafor told newsmen that nothing now hindered the PDP from conducting the congresses, Offiah said she had filed a new motion for interlocutory injunction against the ruling of the Federal High Court, Enugu which had prompted the appeal that was struck out yesterday.

Again, while she told journalists she had served Ajogwu with the motion in court, the later told reporters that nothing was served on him. Also advancing the war of words between gladiators on both sides, Ray Nnaji, who recently defected to the governor’s camp in the crisis told newsmen yesterday, that the new motion for interlocutory injunction, having been successfully filed in the Court of Appeal, INEC and PDP were bound to refrain from doing anything contrary until the final determination of the motion. A copy of the motion dated November 15, 2010 stated that the appellants were dissatisfied with the decision of the lower court on November 10, 2010 when it referred certain questions to the appellate court for determination and decided to file the fresh appeal.

But Okafor and Ajogwu maintained earlier that PDP now had unfettered leverage to go on and conduct the fresh congresses which had been stalled by the interim injunction vacated yesterday.