Court orders: Justice Okorowo held that time was of the essence in the matter and that it would be in the interest of justice for the suit of the plaintiff to be fully determined before the May 28 date of the primary election.
The judge asked the PDP, its National Chairman, Mr. Iyorchia Ayu, and the National Secretary, Sen. Samuel Anyanwu to file their responses to the suit against them within four days.
The judge fixed May 18 for the adoption of final addresses in the suit saying a date for judgment would be fixed immediately after the adoption of addresses.
Erokoro, SAN had in the application pleaded with the court to abridge the time for the suit of his client to be expeditiously heard.
Cosmos Ndukwe is currently a Commissioner for Trade and Investment in Abia State as well as a presidential aspirant on the PDP platform.
He asked the Court to stop PDP from proceeding with the presidential primary election on the ground of the alleged refusal of the party to zone the presidential ticket of the party to the South-East geo-political zone.
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The defendants, however, opposed the application for abridgment of time and accelerated hearing, claiming that there was nothing urgent about the case of the plaintiff.
Mr. Mahmud Magaji, (SAN), representing the PDP said that the plaintiff had nothing to lose if the party went ahead with the scheduled presidential primary.
Court orders
He said this was because the action of the party could also be nullified by the court if found to be taken on faulty steps.
They argued further that It would be unfair to give the plaintiff 14 days to file the suit but reduce their own time of response.
Court orders
The defendants also said that abridging their time would amount to” tying their hands to the back” while expecting them to respond.
In his submission, Mr. Kalu Agu, counsel to the 3rd defendant (Anyanwu) claimed that it would not be in the interest of justice for the court to abridge time when his client was yet to be served with the suit.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Ndukwe had on April 28 filed an ex parte application for an order of injunction restraining the PDP from proceeding with its scheduled primary election.
He said the May 28 primary election should be put on hold pending the hearing and determination of his suit challenging the position of the party on the issue of zoning the party’s presidential ticket.
Ndukwe, himself a presidential aspirant said his suit was based on the alleged refusal of the party to zone the presidential ticket of the party to the southeast geo-political zone.
Via Vanguard News