Court to entertain suit seeking to sack governor Chime today

A suit seeking to sack the governor of
Enugu state, Mr Sullivan Chime from
office, will commence today at the Abuja
Division of the Appeal Court.
The appeal which was filled by a member of the
ruling People’s Democratic Party, (PDP), in the
state, Mr. Alexander Obiechina, is challenging
the refusal of a Federal High Court in Abuja to
void the nomination process that saw the
emergence of Governor Chime on April 26, 2011.
The court presided by Justice Adamu Bello had
on the 21st of May 2012, declined to sack
governor Chime from office, saying it lacked the
jurisdiction to nullify his candidacy in the last
general elections.
Justice Bello had 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.
Dissatisfied with the judgment, Mr. Obiechina
took the matter before the appellate court,
praying it to go ahead and determine whether
there was a valid special congress or primary
election held in Enugu state on January 12,
2011, in which governor Chime was nominated
as the PDP’s candidate.
Insisting that Mr Chime was handpicked through
a ‘kangaroo process’, the litigant, through his
lawyer, Mr. Oba Maduabuchi, urged the court to
nullify the said ‘illegal primary election’ and
order the governor to forthwith vacate the
office,
He argued that January 9, 2011, was the validly
set date for the gubernatorial primaries in the
state.
However, Governor Chime and the PDP have
given reasons why the suit should be dismissed
in its entirety.
The PDP, represented in court by its former
national legal adviser, Chief Olusola Oke, and
the governor, earlier filed separate preliminary
objections against the suit.
The respondents challenged the jurisdiction of
the High Court to entertain the matter,
maintaining that the plaintiff was bereft of the
locus-standi to seek the sack of the governor
from office.