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.
