Enugu Senatorial candidate writes CJN, NASS, accuses Supreme Court deputy registrar of stalling his case against Enugu PDP

By Ihechukwu Sunday
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) senatorial candidate for Enugu North senatorial zone in the 2023 elections, Comrade Chika Idoko, has petitioned the Chief Justice of the Nigeria, and the National Assembly (NASS), accusing the Supreme Court Deputy Registrar 2 (DR2), Abubakar Babasoro of stalling his appeal against the Enugu State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Comrade Idoko had, shortly after the primaries of the PDP in 2022, gone to court seeking the disqualification of all the PDP candidates in the state for failure to submit their membership register within 30 days before conducting its primaries as prescribed by the Electoral Act.
The Federal High Court sitting in Enugu, where the matter was first heard had ruled that, although the petitioner was able to establish that the party did not comply with the relevant provisions of the Act in the conduct of its primaries, the petitioner had no locus standi on the matter because he was neither a member of the PDP nor a candidate in the party’s primaries.
Not satisfied with the ruling, Comrade Idoko had gone to the Court of Appeal, where he lost again, and in addition, was fined N37 million as general damages to the respondents.
He has since taken the matter to the apex court, where, according to him, the case has allegedly been stalled by the refusal of Messrs Babasoro.
“My Lord, I seek your intervention to save me considering the fine of N37 million imposed on me by the Court of Appeal, even after they had agreed with the ruling of the Federal High Court that the Enugu State PDP truly violated the Electoral Act as a result of their failure to submit their party’s register within the lawfully specified time frame of 30 days before their party primary elections,” he lamented.
In his letter to the CJN, a copy of which was made available to the Daily Sun, Idoko, who claimed he had written three previous reminders to the Supreme Court, lamented that the DCR2 Litigation, and other staff of the Court had “served as clogs in the wheel of the progress of my matter which occasioned a great injustice to me.”
Claiming that he had complied with all the rules in force at the Supreme Court, he wondered why the officials at the apex Court have refused to fix his matter for hearing in a case that was a pre-election matter.
“My Lord, I seek your intervention to save me, considering the fine of N37 million imposed on me by the Court of Appeal, even after they agreed with the ruling of the Federal High Court that the PDP Enugu State truly violated the Electoral Act as a result of their failure to submit their party’ s register within the lawfully specified time frame of 30 days to their party’s primary elections,” the letter read in part.
In his petition to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Idoko said he had first written to the Supreme Court on June 5, 2023, but was surprised he has not received any response, even after two other reminders on July 25, and August 3, respectively.
The petition, which was laid during plenary by the member representing Nsukka/Igbo Eze South Federal Constituency, Hon. Chidi Mark Obetta read in part: “Honourable Speaker Sir, equity delayed is equity denied. I have complained severally about how the DCR2 Litigation of the Supreme Court ( Mr. YUSUF ABUBAKAR BABASORO Esq ) and other staff of the Court serve as clogs in the wheel of the progress of my matter which occasioned a great injustice to me.
“Hon. Speaker Sir, I have complied with all the requirements of the Rules in force at the Supreme Court, and my matter was never fixed for hearing before the court.
“Hon. Speaker Sir, I wrote to the Office of the CJN on August 1, 2023, which was after the DCR2 Litigation had informed me that the two previous letters ( June 20, and July 5), which were minuted to his office were all missing, and that I should wait indefinitely for those missing letters to be located.
“Hon. Speaker Sir, assuming without conceding that those two letters were truly missing from his desk, what then happened to the last letter on August 1, which was received in DCR2’s office on August 4, which he has also continued to ignore to act on, contrary to My Lord’s instructions? That letter has spent over two months on his desk without action.
“As a Nigerian, I consider it to be a miscarriage of justice, if I should suffer for the failure of the Court officials to perform their lawful duties. It is trite that the sin of a counsel shouldn’t be visited on a litigant and the same position is applicable to that of the court officials.
“Hon. Speaker Sir, I seek your intervention to save me, considering the fine of N37 million imposed on me by the Court of Appeal, even after they agreed with the ruling of the Federal High Court. the PDP Enugu State violated the Electoral Act due to their failure to submit their party’s register within the lawfully specified time frame of 30 days to their party’s primary elections.
“I was not satisfied with the judgments of both the Federal High Court and the Appeal Court and that’s why I insisted that the Supreme Court of Nigeria will have the final say on this matter for the enrichment of jurisprudence in our dear nation.
“As a Common Nigerian, I seek that my matter be fixed for hearing in the interest of justice and fairness. As the Speaker of the People’s Parliament, The House of Representatives, I humbly urge you to kindly use your good offices to intercede on my behalf and ensure that I am allowed to be heard by the Supreme Court.”