In a ruling, Justice Evoh Chukwu summoned both the PDP and the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to appear before him on tomorrow to show why the outcome of the said primaries should not be voided.
The court order was sequel to an ex-parte application filed before it by a chieftain of the PDP in Enugu State and owner of Peace Mass Transit Ltd, Samuel Maduka Onyishi.
Dr. Onyishi had through his lawyer, Chief Chris Uche, SAN, prayed the court to declare that the primaries conducted by the PDP in Enugu State was in clear violation of the Electoral Act, saying it was in contempt of a subsisting suit challenging the election of delegates for that primaries.
He wants the court to nullify the primaries for breach of sections 87(4)(b)(I) of the Electoral Act and for non compliance with the electoral guidelines for primary elections 2014 of the PDP and its constitution.
Prior to the primaries, Justice Chukwu had in another suit instituted by Orji Godwin and two others, against the PDP and 4 others, with reference number FHC/Abj/CS/830/2014, approved and sanctioned a list of delegates for the said primaries.
The list okayed by the court consisted of all the delegates duly elected at the party’s ward congress for Enugu State.
However, Dr. Onyishi alleged that the Enugu State Electoral Panel, in breach of the court’s decision, discarded that list of duly elected delegates approved by the court, and brought a different list of delegates which they claimed was handed over to them by the leadership of the party.
He further told the court that no valid governorship primaries of the PDP took place in Enugu State on December 8, as no votes or results could have been recorded from the flawed delegates list.
He told the court that upon realizing the illegality of using a different list from the one sanctioned by the court, that some delegates conducted different primaries leading to a situation where the state now parades three persons laying claim to being winners of the gubernatorial primary election of the PDP in the state.
The plaintiff therefore prayed the court to among others, determine whether having regard to the subsisting judgment of this honourable court in Suit No: FHC,/ABJ/CS/830/2014- Orji Chinenye Godwin & 2 Ors. (suing for themselves and on behalf of all the delegates elected on the 1st day of November 2014 at the Ward Congress held for Enugu State) v. Peoples Democratic Party & 4 Ors, the PDP can lawfully and validly conduct her gubernatorial primary election on December 8, 2014 for the forthcoming 2015 Enugu State Governorship election using a doctored list of delegated at variance with the list of delegates already sanctioned, endorsed and validated in the said Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/830/2014 by this honourable court.