The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, on Monday, barred the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, from taking any step relating to the removal of Senator Samuel Anyanwu as the National Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
Justice Inyang Ekwo made the order on a day the PDP and Hon. Udeh-Okoye Enemchukwu who the party had since endorsed as its national scribe, applied to be joined as interested and necessary parties to the legal action that Senator Anwanyu brought before the court.
Anyanwu had approached the court to restrain INEC from giving effect to his removal as PDP’s National Secretary.
In the motion ex-parte he filed through his team of lawyers led by Mr. Ken Njemanze, SAN, the Applicant specifically prayed the court to bar the electoral body or its agents from receiving or acting upon any correspondent or submission from the PDP, unless such documents were signed by him.
He further applied for an order of injunction to restrain the National Chairman of the party, Umar Damagun, from forwarding any correspondence, document or written submissions to INEC, without his own signature.
Meanwhile, instead of granting the prayers, the court, in a ruling it delivered last Wednesday, directed the Applicant to put INEC and Damagun, who were originally listed as defendants in the matter, on notice.
Justice Ekwo held that the defendants should be served with all the necessary court processes to enable them to respond to the application.
The court adjourned for the defendants to show cause why Anyanwu’s prayers should not be granted.
However, at the resumed proceeding in the matter on Monday, INEC, through its lawyer, Mr. Ahmed Mohammed, told the court that it filed a counter- affidavit to challenge the competence of the suit.
Even though Mohammed confirmed that he was duly served with all the processes in the matter, he, however, admitted that INEC did not file any process to show cause as it was directed to do by the court.
Irked by the development, Justice Ekwo noted that instead of responding to Anyanwu’s application for interim orders, INEC delved into the substantive matter by filing a counter-affidavit.
On their part, Udeh-Okoye’s counsel, Mr. Paul Erokoro, SAN, and that of the PDP, Mr. Paul-Harris Ogbole, SAN, told the court that they have served Senator Anyanwu’s lawyer with separate applications they filed to be joined as parties in the matter.
They sought an amendment of the substantive suit to reflect their names as defendants.
While confirming that he was served with the joinder applications, Njemanze, SAN, said the time for him to respond to them had not elapsed.
Consequently, before adjourning till February 28 to hear all the pending applications, Justice Ekwo warned INEC not to take any action that would adversely affect the suit pending before the court.
“INEC has not given any tangible reason to show cause, but rather filed a process that goes to the substance of the matter.
“Therefore, it is the order of this court that INEC should not do anything contrary to the prayers of the Applicant until further order of this court.
“The 1st and 2nd defendant are ordered not to do anything or take action that will contravene the prayers of the Applicant.
“I hereby make an order for accelerated hearing of this matter,” Justice Ekwo held.
Meantime, the Acting Chairman of the PDP, Damagun, though served with the court processes, was not represented in court.
The Supreme Court had earlier slated March 10 to also hear an appeal the embattled PDP’s national scribe filed to challenge his sack by the Court of Appeal in Enugu.
A five-member panel of the apex court led by Justice Ibrahim Saulawa okayed accelerated hearing of the case.
It will be recalled that the appellate court had in a judgement it delivered last December, upheld a High Court verdict that sacked Senator Anyanwu and recognized Chief Udeh-Okoye as the authentic national scribe of the party.
The court held that Anyanwu’s continued stay in office as National Secretary was in breach of PDP’s Constitution, having contested and emerged as the party’s candidate in the governorship election that held in Imo State last year.
Dissatisfied with the concurrent judgements of the two courts, Anyanwu approached the Supreme Court to set them aside.
The Board of Trustees, BOT, and the National Working Committee, NWC, of the PDP had in line with the subsisting judgements, endorsed Chief Udeh-Okoye as the National Secretary of the party.
Anyanwu outrightly rejected their decisions, insisting that the position is still the subject of an ongoing litigation.
