• It’s anti-party, I’ll fire back, governor threatens
Court of Appeal, Port Harcourt Division, has granted a request by the national leadership of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to debrief counsel representing the party from Okala’s Associate chambers from all cases pending at the appellate court.

The request to stop the suits was read by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Johnson Usman, from a letter by the national leadership of the party asking the Appeal Court to debrief all counsels representing their party in the cases before the court.

The state PDP had appealed the judgment of the lower court against them, which bordered on non-compliance with the amended Electoral Act, 2022 by other parties in the state.

When the appeal filed by PDP against the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC), Accord and its governorship candidate, Dumo Lulu-Briggs, and his deputy came up, one of the counsel representing PDP from Okala’s Associates Chambers, Dike Udenna, requested and applied that the court should debrief them since the appellant in the case asked them to hands off the case.

Udenna also requested and appealed that they should be debriefed in an appeal filed by PDP against INEC, All Progressives Congress (APC) and its National Assembly candidates.

Other counsel in the case did not oppose the request and the new legal representation from PDP, Johnson Usman, requested that the court gives him time to study the cases.

The lead presiding Judge, Justice Joseph Shangbai, granted the request to debrief state PDP counsel and adjourned till February 3, 2023 for hearing.