Ebeano's Rebound

Governor Chime of Enugu State

The ding-dong battle between two feuding factions of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Enugu State assumes another dimension, as the court awards victory to one of the factions
By Anene Ugoani, Enugu
Ray Nnaji, chairman of the Ebeano faction of the Enugu State chapter of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), has won round one in the suit he filed last year at the Federal High Court, Enugu, seeking to unseatVita Abba, the chairman of the rival Governor Sullivan Chime faction, and by extension, re-capture the party’s structure ahead of the December council polls and the 2011 general elections. In spite of the preliminary objections raised by Justina Offiah (SAN), counsel to Abba and others, that the court lacked jurisdiction to adjudicate in a political party squabble, the presiding judge, Justice Abdu Kafarati, over-ruled her, insisting that the court has jurisdiction to entertain the matter.
Sequel to that ruling on Thursday, June 11, 2009 , members of the Ebeano faction loyal to the immediate-past governor of the State, Senator Chimaroke Nnamani, jubilated wildly inside and outside the court premises. Scores of the happy members later headed for the law office of Nnaji on Ogui Road , to congratulate him on the court victory.
Offiah looked devastated when the judge gave his ruling. She had prayed the court to strike out the suit on three grounds: That, the subject matter of the suit is a matter of the internal affairs of a political party; that the subject matter of the suit deals with political questions; and that the subject- matter of the said suit is not justiceable.
But in his ruling, Justice Kafarati disagreed with the lady that the court has a political issue before it. The matter had ceased to be an internal affair of the PDP, he said, because the state congress of the party had been concluded, the result publicised and tendered in court, as well as a certificate of return issued to the winner.
He said that in the light of what had happened, there was the need for the court to interpret the PDP constitution, with a view to finding out whether its provisions were followed to the letter in the conduct of the 2008 congress of the party. The judge adjourned the case till July 22, 2009 , when the court intends to hear the preliminary objections of Olusola Oke, counsel to Prince Vincent Ogbulafor, the National Chairman of the PDP, and other members of the National Working Committee (NWC).
In the notice of preliminary objections he filed, Oke wants the court, to throw out the suit on the grounds that its subject matter is not within the jurisdiction of the court and that Nnaji failed to exhaust the internal remedies provided in the PDP constitution and guidelines before going to court.
The on-going court battle is a fallout of the parallel state congresses held by the Chime and Ebeano factions of the PDP in Enugu on February 28, 2008 . The Chime faction held its own congress at the Hotel Presidential. Only Alhaji Aminu Gumel, out of the five-member monitoring Committee set up by the NWC of the PDP to supervise the congress, was present at the event. Delegates at the congress elected Abba, an engineer, as State Chairman.
On the other hand, the Ebeano faction held its own congress at the Macdavos Hotel, Garki, Enugu , and settled for Nnaji as the state chairman of the party. The Macdavos Hotel happened to be the venue publicised by the NWC of the PDP for the conduct of the congress. Four members of the monitoring committee from Abuja, including the chairman, Alhaji Mohammed Yunusa, attended the party congress held at Macdavos Hotel. And they issued a certificate of return to Nnaji.
However, the NWC of the PDP at its meeting in Abuja on April 9, 2008 , accorded recognition to Abba as the authentic chairman of the Enugu State chapter of the party. And on May 8, 2008, the South-east Action Committee on Peace and Reconciliation, led by former Governor of old Anambra State, Chief Jim Nwobodo, rose from its two-day public hearings in Enugu, also according recognition to Abba as the authentic Enugu PDP chairman. Aggrieved over the decisions, Nnaji headed for the Federal High Court, Enugu on May 9, 2008 .
Nnaji, who was still savouring his victory at the court when The Source met him, said that although he was ready to argue the preliminary objections raised by Oke, he did a re-think and accepted the July 22 adjourned date in the case in order not to further stress the judge and create the impression that he was ungrateful for the “hope-rising” ruling given by the court.
Observing that the preliminary objections raised by Oke were similar to the ones argued by Offiah, Nnaji boasted that it would take him between 10 to 15 minutes when proceedings resume on July 22, to dismiss Oke’s objections. And after he had convinced the court that the objections lacked merit, he said, he would then come up with an interlocutory application that would finally “park” Abba and prevent him from parading himself as the Enugu State chairman of the PDP.
He said it was not true that he did not exhaust the internal remedies in the party, as alleged by Oke, before filing papers in court. To counter the allegation, Nnaji showed The Source copies of letters he wrote to President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and Ogbulafor, complaining of injustice and denial of fair hearing in the chairmanship dispute. He stated that the president and Ogbulafor ignored his letters and never wrote back.
“I was national auditor of the PDP when Ogbulafor was national secretary. He never liked me. But because of personal hatred, Ogbulafor was believing that the has some personal scores to settle with me. That is his business. But the issue of party structure in Enugu State is ours. It is now confirmed”, Nnaji said, grinning.
He stated that the defendants in the case would want it to drag as much as possible because they do not have any evidence to tender in court while he, on his part, possessed overwhelming evidence to prove that he was duly elected state chairman of the PDP. “They know that they have no case. I tendered the result endorsed by the congress committee constituted by the National Secretariat. But the only evidence they have are photographs taken at Hotel Presidential, which was not the venue approved by the party for the congress”.
Likening the progress his case is making in court to a football team headed for victory, Nnaji said he had since proceedings began at the Federal High Court, been “positioning the ball” for Chuma Oguejiofor, the principal counsel in the case, “to rush in and fire the ball into the net”.
Asked if his suit would not turn out to be a stumbling block to the chances of the PDP in the upcoming local council polls, slated for December, as well as the 2011 general elections, Nnaji said if the issue was resolved before the general elections, no other political party would defeat the PDP in Enugu State. But if the issue is not resolved, the party would definitely encounter problems in the elections. 
Nnaji: “As it stands now, the PDP will have problems, even with the local government elections because any time Abba sends his list of candidates to the Enugu State Independent Electoral Commission, I will send my own list. And at the end of the day, the list of whoever is declared the authentic chairman by the court, will be accepted. So many people will not labour to become local government chairmen and councilors.
“My advide to them (Chime group), is to explore ways we can accommodate them. We are ready to accommodate them. We are not going to punish anyone, but they will be required to queue up”.
He, however, declined to say whether the Ebeano faction would endorse Chime as its gubernatorial candidate in the 2011 race in the event that it wins its case at the Federal High Court. Instead of answering the question, Nnaji kept on saying: “Chime is not a politician. He is politically naïve. Well, he has, however, not said he is a politician. From what he is doing, you will know quite well that he is a novice in the game”.
But who will in the end win at the Federal Court? The Chime faction? Or the Ebeano faction? Only time can tell.