A Federal High Court in Asaba, Delta State, on Thursday adjourned
till October 13, 2018, hearing in the suit involving two factions of the All
Progressives Congress (APC) in the state.
The trial judge, Justice Toy in Adegoke, announced the
new date for the hearing of the case following apparent delay in serving
counsel to the applicants the necessary papers to enable them prepare in time
for the case when it came up yesterday.
This as the plaintiffs' counsel accused the defence of
attempting to scuttle the trial by allegedly prompting delay in the service of
the other party.
It was at the hearing of the suit restraining the APC
National Working Committee (NWC) from submitting the list of the state APC
candidates for the 2019 general election to the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC).
The state APC
factional Chairman, Cyril Ogodo, had approached the Federal High Court in Asaba
seeking to restraining the APC and its National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole,
from submitting the list of candidates from Jones Erue faction to INEC.
Specifically, counsel to the state APC factional
chairman, O.J Oghenejakpor, accused the defence team of attempting to truncate
the trial. He told the court that the bailiff told him that the defence team
prevailed regarding the delayed service of the necessary court papers on the
plaintiffs.
Nevertheless, Justice Adegoke, in her ruling, held
that both parties maintain status quo till the substantive suit is heard. She
adjourned to November 13 for continuation of the hearing.
On October 17, 2018, the court ordered maintenance of
status quo ante belum in respect of the case between the Delta State APC
factional groups over which is the authentic list of candidates for the
different positions in the 2019, stating that no candidate’s lists should be
sent to INEC until hearing of the substantive suit.
The high court sitting in Asaba, the Delta State capital,
had retrained the NWC of the APC from submitting the list of all party
candidates for the 2019 election from the state to the INEC.
In a ruling by Justice Adegoke, Oshiomhole, who was
joined in the suit as the second respondent with APC as first respondent; INEC
and Jones Erue as the third and fourth respondents respectively and the
plaintiff were ordered to maintain status quo and desist from submitting any
list of candidates from the two factions in Delta State to INEC till the substantive
suit was heard.
It will be noted
that the Chief Cyril Ogodo-led State Working Committee (SWC) and others had
instituted an interlocutory injunction restraining APC and Oshiomhole from
submitting the list of candidates from Erue faction to INEC.
According to Justice
Adegoke, since pre-election matters require accelerated hearings, she made the
following orders that “this matter shall be given an accelerated hearing owing
to fact that it is a pre- election matter. All defendants are to take note of
the tendencies of this suit.
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