Chief Judge of Enugu State, Justice Innocent Umezurike yesterday reserved ruling till November 28, on a motion asking him to dismiss and strike out a suit filed by Mr. Charles Okafor and others demanding the cancelation of the November 1st 2014 ward congresses of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Enugu state.
The application for dismissal of the suit was made by Chief Alex Izinyon, SAN, the counsel to first defendants, the PDP, who based his argument on the fact that the court lacks the jurisdiction to
entertain the suit, which he said, was an abuse of court process and that his clients, PDP, was not properly served.
Leading a team of over six lawyers including; Emeka Etiaba, Obinna Nanka and M.O. Fagbemi, Izinyon posited that a similar suit filed by Chinenye Orji, Cletus Akalusi and Orji C. Orji on behalf of themselves and other delegates elected on November 1st ward congress in Enugu
state, exists at Federal High Court Abuja.
He said that the Abuja Federal High Court had earlier granted two injunctions first restraining PDP from tampering with the result of the November ward congress and or conducting a fresh ward congress in Enugu State, and also another injunction restraining Mr. Ikeje Asogwa from parading himself as chairman of the party in Enugu state as Elder David Aja remained the Acting chairman of the party following the resignation of the former chairman, Engr. Vita Abba.
Charles Okafor and others had approached the Enugu Chief Judge’s Court challenging the validity of ward congress of the PDP insisting that no ward congress took place in the state on November 1st 2014.
But Iziynon yesterday argued in the 38 paragraph motion and three exhibits, including certified copy of the result of the ward congress of the PDP conducted in Enugu sate on November 1st, 2014, that there
was a ward congress of the paty on the said date and that already some delegates elected at the congress had earlier approached an Abuja Federal High Court demanding that nobody should tamper with the list of delegates elected at the congress.
Citing several authorities, the Senior Advocate of Nigeria posits that when a court is already entertaining a suit with subsisting orders, and similar suit with the same subject matter is filed in another court of equal jurisdiction, the latter would be struck out as abuse of court process.
Arguing that the issue of jurisdiction transcends the rule of the court as it is the spinal cord of any matter, the learned silk urged the court to dismiss the suit also on grounds of improper service as
required by Section222 of the Constitution, noting that the PDP National Head Headquarters instead of being served directly at Wadata Plaza Abuja, was served through a liaison office.
The counsel to second set of defendants (Chinenye Orji, Cletus Akalusi and Orji C. Orji), Tagbo Ike, accompany by other lawyers concurred with the submission of Izinyon, adding that the matter was an
intra-party one which the court has no jurisdiction of entertaining.
But the counsel to the plaintiff, Sam Orji who cited several authorities argued that the suit was not an abuse of court process and urged the court to rather strike out the motion.
Justice Umezuruike fixed ruling on jurisdiction for Friday November
28, 2014.
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