Imo asks court to discharge reinstated LG chairmen’s suit

On Tuesday, Imo State Government questioned the jurisdiction of the court to entertain the suit filed by the reinstated 27 local government chairmen against it. At a hearing, counsel to Imo State Government, Mr. Adeniyi Akintola, SAN, argued that the court did not have jurisdiction to hear the substantive matter.

Akintola, who is defending the Governor, the State Independent Electoral Commission and the State House of Assembly in the suit, told the court that technically there was no case before it.
"With due respect Sir, this court does not have the jurisdiction to hear this matter because the tenure of the claimants expired August 8, 2012. Again, there is an extant law that must be obeyed, which gave the claimants two-year tenure", Akintola argued.

Defending himself, the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Chief Soronnadi Njoku, argued that the issue of jurisdiction was fundamental, stressing that when raised, every other thing must stand still.
"Jurisdiction is the live wire for the continuance of every suit. Apart from this, I was only served this morning and I need at least 24 hours to react appropriately", Njoku argued.
Presenting the reinstated chairmen's case, their counsel, Mr. D.O. Agbo, argued that the only motion ripe for hearing was that filed by the claimants seeking to nullify the dissolution of the local councils by the Governor.
"The first defendant (Governor) took a unilateral decision to dissolve the councils and that was why we filed the motion for the nullification of the action taken by him", Agbo argued.
The claimants however contended that at all times the duty of the court was to jealously guard its powers before proceeding to determine whether it was incompetent to hear the matter from which the contempt issue arose.
After listening carefully to the submissions, Hon. Justice Ngozi Opara, fixed next Thursday to rule on whether the court has jurisdiction the hear the matter or not.