Court to hear contempt suit against Oshiomole April 3

An FCT High Court in Bwari has fixed April 3 for hearing in a contempt suit filed against the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomole and the party.

The plaintiff, Daniel Nwafor, the chairman of the APC in Imo state, instituted the suit following alleged disobedience of the court judgment which recognized him as the authentic chairman of the party in the state.

The judgment was given in a suit filed by one Evans Enwerem in 2018 challenging the conduct of the Ward, Local Government and State congresses of the APC in Imo State.

The court, after hearing the case, dismissed it and granted the reliefs as asked for by Nwafor with the court restraining APC and Oshiomole from tampering with the tenure of Nwafor as chairman.

However, in December 2018, Oshiomole sought to sack the Nwafor-led executive against the order of court, which led Nwafor to file a contempt suit against Oshiomole and the APC.

Oshiomole through his counsel, Damian Dodo (SAN) had subsequently filed a preliminary objection challenging the jurisdiction of the court .

When the matter came up on February 17, the plaintiff prayed the court to hear the contempt charge first while the defense however asked the court to hear the preliminary objection it filed first.

The court later intervened to first hear the objection challenging the contempt proceedings.

The trial judge, Justice Othman Musa while adjourning the matter held that court orders are meant to be obeyed until such orders are set aside and adjourned the matter to March 20.

However, following the absence of the judge today, the court, in agreement with the counsels in the case, fixed April 3 as the new date for the hearing of the suit.