By Olalekan Awojodu
Abuja
The Federal High Court, Abuja will on March 22, 2021 decide whether it has jurisdiction to entertain a suit seeking determination on the authentic leadership of the Social Democratic Party (SDP).
The Presiding Judge, Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu announced the date for ruling on Tuesday shortly after taken submissions on the Notice of Preliminary objections filed by INEC and four other respondents.
Chief Supo Shonibare and 11 others in the suit seeks the recognition of the Olu Falae-led National Executive Committee (NEC) as the true leadership of the SDP as against the Professor Tunde Adeniran faction.
According to the plaintiffs in the suit marked FHA/A/ABJ/CS/1358/2019, they were elected at the party’s national convention on March 9, 2016 for a period of four years but were displaced some time in 2018 by the Adeniran faction on claims that they were appointed at the party’s 2018 national convention.
Shonibare, who claimed to be the Acting National Chairman of the party, following the resignation of the National Chairman, Chief Olu Falae, in 2019, insisted that there was no election of party officials in 2018, saying only the court can resolve the leadership issue.
Respondents in the suit include: Professor Adeniran, Shehu Gaban, Emeka Atuma, Prof. Rufai Alkali, Marian Tolopari, Dr. Junaid Mohammed, Senator Ebenezer Ikeyina, Senator Erin Henshaw, David Umah, Stanley Nnanka, Joseph Achile, and INEC, who are 1 to 12 defendants respectively.
At the proceedings of December 7, the court had adjourned to January 19 for hearing in the objections filed by INEC, 1st, 2nd, 4th, 9th and 11th defendants to the suit.
The 1st, 2nd, 4th, 9th and 11th defendants in arguing the motion urged the court to dismiss the suit on the grounds that it is a waste of time and an abuse of court’s process because the issues brought before the court have been resolved by the Supreme Court last year, in a judgment which declared former Cross River State Governor, Donald Duke as candidate of the SDP in the 2019 presidential election.
Their lawyer, Mr Peter Nwanti argued that hearing the suit will amount to sitting on appeal on the judgments of both the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.
INEC’s lawyer, Mr Dimas Emmanuel, argued that the court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the suit because it has become statute barred, adding that court lacks jurisdiction to entertain intra party matters.
Responding to the two objections lawyer to the plaintiffs, Mr Tani Molajo, SAN told the court that the objections by the defendants were misconceived because the issues brought before the court was quite different from what the apex court had resolved.
According to Molajo, the issue resolved by both the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court has nothing to do with the party’s leadership but rotation of the presidential ticket among zones in the country.
The plaintiffs’ lawyer further argued that certain paragraphs in the affidavit in support of the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 9th and 11th defendants was in breached of the evidence act making the NPO incompetent.
He therefore urged the court to dismiss the objections and proceed to hear the substantive suit.
Justice Ojukwu is billed to deliver her ruling on the objections on March 22.
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