By Lawrence Nwimo
The legal tussle over who becomes the true candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, for the November 6 Anambra governorship election may not have ended following Wednesday’s court ruling in Enugu State. This is even as the flag-bearer of the Party, Mr. Valentine Ozigbo says there is no cause for worry.
The Enugu Divisional Appellate Court presided by Justice Dongban Mensa, yesterday, adjourned its ruling on the appeal brought before it by Mr. Valentine Ozigbo and the Peoples Democratic Party against Senator Ugochukwu Uba and two others.
Recall that Senator Uba, had July 5, 2021, instituted a suit against the the party, Ozigbo and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), challenging Ozigbo’s candidature for the November 6, 2021 governorship election.
Barely 24 hours after Senator Uba instituted the suit, Justice Nwabunike granted an ex parte injunction restraining INEC from carrying out their constitutional duty and also abridged the time within which the Defendants are legally obliged to file their defence from 42 days to only 3 days in violation of Order 16 Rule 1(2) of the Anambra State High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules 2019.
Upon the ex parte order, the judge, on the day of the hearing, being the 16th of July 2021, allegedly denied the defendants time to respond to the processes served on them and proceeded with the hearing of the Plaintiff’s case and delivering judgement.
In reaction, Ozigbo had appealed the said judgment with an application for a stay of execution that was granted by the Court of Appeal on Monday, August 2, 2021.
The appeals were however, struck out and adjourned till a fixed date after the appellate court’s attention was drawn by Mr Alex Ejesieme, lead Counsel to Mr Valentine Ozigbo, to some motions filed in the course of instituting the suit, which events, he said, have overtaken seeking the particular motions to be withdrawn.