By Jonathan Ugbal
Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu of the Calabar division of the Federal High Court on Wednesday adjourned until tomorrow (Thursday), a suit seeking the disqualification of Honorable Regina Anyogo as the House of Assembly candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC for the Yala 1 State constituency in the 2023 general elections over confusion as to whom the counsel of the party is.
Two counsels filed separate processes for the APC which is the first defendant in an originating summons brought by Otanya Odey, seeking for, among other prayers, the disqualification of Mrs. Anyogo who is the second defendant in the suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/852/2022.
The matter was slated for hearing on Wednesday. When the case was called up and appearances entered, the counsel for the plaintiff, F. Baba Isa Esq told the Court that he had just been served a process by a new counsel for the APC dated July 13, 2022, after he had joined issues with Leonard Anyogo, who had filed processes on behalf of the first and second defendant dated August 2, 2022.
Anyogo in his submission said the matter was filed in Abuja and said there were some teething issues that needed to be settled, to which Isa asked the court to discountenance such and for the matter to proceed.
The court insisted that the issues be argued first, to which Isa sought the guidance of the Court to clarify whether he was to join issues with the first defendant based on what Anyogo had filed or what the new counsel filed. He wondered why he was not served the processes of the new counsel despite them being filed earlier.
Other issues including whether the new counsel had properly communicated that he was taking over from Anyogo were also argued and the Court adjourned the matter until tomorrow (Thursday) for the counsels of the defendants to sort themselves out and find out whether they can sever the process filed and served on the plaintiff in order to allow those for the first defendant stand alone or continue as they are.