By Ikechukwu Nnochiri
Respite came the way of Governor Sullivan Chime of Enugu State, yesterday, as an Abuja division of the Federal High Court vacated the interim order that hitherto restrained the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, from recognizing his candidacy.

With the development, the court has given INEC the nod to include Governor Chime’s name on the list of candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, for Enugu State, pending the hearing and determination of a substantive suit challenging his nomination by the party.

Justice Abdul Kafarati, while vacating the restraining order he made on January 31, noted that the injunction was granted in error since the PDP had already forwarded its list of candidates to the electoral body before the plaintiffs secured the restraining order.

The court, however, fixed February 23 to look into the merits of the substantive suit pending before it, even as it gave both Governor Chime, the PDP and INEC 48 hours within which to file their statements of defence against the issues raised against them by the plaintiffs.

The presiding Judge, who dismissed the contention of the PDP that he was bereft of the jurisdiction to meddle into issues it said bothered on an internal affair of a political party, held that the onus was on the court to determine whether there was sufficient ground in the suit to warrant judicial intervention.

He maintained that the court would not hesitate to make the appropriate orders if it was eventually proved that the party violated provisions of the Electoral Act 2010, its constitution or guidelines, before selecting Governor Chime as its gubernatorial candidate for the state in the forthcoming general election.

It would be recalled that a PDP governorship hopeful in Enugu State, Anayo Onwuegbu, and 38 other contestants, on January 31, secured an interim court injunction that restrained INEC from giving recognition to Governor Chime or any other candidate of the party in that state, pending the determination of their suit.

They equally moved the court to restrain the party from forwarding list of its candidates for the state to INEC, until the controversy surrounding the legality of the nomination exercise was fully resolved in court.

Meanwhile, Governor Theodore Orji of Abia State will today know his fate over a legal action seeking to void his candidacy.

His major opponent for Abia State ticket, Chief Ikechi Emenike, is praying the high court to, not only nullify Orji’s nomination, but also go ahead to order INEC to delete his name as a PDP gubernatorial candidate.

Emenike maintained that it would be unconstitutional for the court to allow PDP to field Governor Orji as its gubernatorial flag bearer, insisting that he emerged from a kangaroo primary election conducted by an illegal body.