Court to hear appeal against Chime Nov. 8
(Nigeria) The Court of Appeal in Abuja reserved November
8 for hearing in a suit seeking the
removal of Sullivan Chime as governor of Enugu State.
Justice M.D
Dongban-Mensem, who presided over the sitting, gave the date after the court
directed the appellant to serve the governor with all documents associated with
the appeal.
Chief Alexander Obiechina, approached the court challenging
the refusal of a Federal High Court, Abuja, to annul the nomination process
that produced Chime on April 26, 2011 as the PDP candidate in the gubernatorial
election.
In an enrolled order, Dongban-Mensem held that the record of
proceedings in Notice of Appeal No. CA/A/358/2012 and all the legal processes
should be served on the governor through the state’s liaison office in Abuja.
``Upon reading the motion ex-parte filed on Oct. 21, 2013,
and the affidavit of Bello Ibrahim sworn to on the same date before the court. And after hearing counsel to the appellants,
Oba Maduabuchi, it is hereby ordered that all processes relevant to the
determination of this appeal shall accordingly be served on the 3rd respondent,
Sullivan Chime.
``That the processes shall be served on the liaison officer
of the said Enugu State Liaison Office, and such service shall be deemed as
properly served on the third respondent.
Obiechina is urging
the appellate court to determine whether there was a valid special congress or
primary election held in Enugu State on January 12, 2011,’’ he said.
He said sections 85(1) and 87(1)(4)(b) of the Electoral Act,
2010 were not followed in the case of the governor.
Maduabuchi, counsel to the appellant, urged the court to
nullify the primary election and order the governor to vacate the office.
Independent National Electoral Commission and the Peoples
Democratic Party are the other respondents in the suit.
It will be recalled that Justice Adamu Bello of the Federal
High Court on May 21, 2012, declined to grant the prayers of the appellant.
Bello held that the
court lacked the jurisdiction to entertain the substance of the case.
However, the judge maintained that the issue of nomination
and sponsorship of a candidate for any given election was within the realm of
the domestic affairs of a political party.
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