New Telegraph

Absence of defendant stalls ex-PDP Chairman, Secondus’ suspension suit stalled at Supreme Court

Hearing in the suit filed by the sacked former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Uche Secondus challenging his removal from office before the expiration of his four years tenure was Monday stalled before the Supreme Court.

The suit slated for hearing on Monday by the apex court was shifted by 24 hours following the non-appearance in the court of one of the key defendants, Chief Dan Oji Orbhi.

When the matter came up, it was discovered that Orbhi, who is 8th defendant in the appeal, was not personally present in court and was not represented by a counsel.

Rather, his earlier counsel, Chief Godwin Obla (SAN) wrote the court informing it that Orbhi had not briefed him to properly stand as his counsel at the Supreme Court.

However, counsel to Uche Secondus, Oba Maduabuchi (SAN) protested the development claiming that Orbhi was not sued by his client but that the defendant imposed himself on the excuse of being Zonal Chairman of PDP.

He sought to move a motion for substituted service to enable him to serve the defendant with all court processes through the PDP Zonal office.

Justice Mohammed Musa Dattijo, who led a five-man panel of Justices of the court fixed Tuesday for hearing of all pending applications in respect of the matter.

Apart from Dan Orbhi, other defendants in the appeal are Ibeawuchi Ernest Alex, Dennis Nna Amadi, Emmanuel Stephen, Umezurike Onuoha, Godwin Pepple Manfred, PDP, Senator Suleiman Nazif, Hon Solomon Ejike Ogbonna, Hon Uche Emmanuel Minukwa and Senator Samuel Nnaemeka Anyawu.

It will be recalled that the Court of Appeal sitting in Port Harcourt had on October 26 dismissed an application challenging the suspension of Secondus from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

A panel of three justices, led by Justice Haruna Tsammani, struck out the suit during its sitting in the Rivers State capital.

Not satisfied, Secondus approached the Supreme Court praying for an order to quash his suspension and as well restore him to office to complete his four years tenure.

Read Previous

CAMA: CAN returns to court

Read Next

Abuja, Niger, 2 other states face blackout as AEDC employees embark on indefinite strike

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *