Suit Against NDC Thrown Out

An Accra high court yesterday struck out the application of interlocutory injunction seeking to restrain the National Democratic Congress (NDC) from organizing its national delegates' congress on Saturday.

This follows the decision by the plaintiff, Emmanuel Aboagye Didieye, Member of Parliament (MP) for Afram Plains North, to withdraw the suit.

The court, presided over by Justice Anthony Oppong, had on Tuesday fixed yesterday to deliver its ruling on the application.

Mr. Didieye, a national organizer aspirant, had sued the party for what he described as an orchestrated attempt to disqualify him from the race.

He was one of six persons Johnson Asiedu Nketia, party general secretary, had alleged had withdrawn from the contest voluntarily.

Mr. Didieye subsequently rebutted that claim and sued the party after he had detected that his name and photograph had been left out of the national organizer ballot paper.

After attempts to get the party to reverse the decision had hit a wall, Didieye went to court to reverse what he described as unlawful disqualification of his candidature.

On Tuesday one of the counsels for Mr. Didieye, Bright Obeng, argued that his client was not served with the response of the defendant on time for them to study it and make an informed argument in court.

He had explained that Mr. Didieye was not placing injunction on the entire congress but on the national organizer position.

Victor Kojogah Adawudu, lawyer for the NDC, on the contrary, had claimed that the defendant's response was retrieved from the plaintiff's own filing forms, indicating that there was no intention to ambush him since the plaintiff was already abreast with the content he filed in court and accordingly prayed the court to deliver its ruling on the matter before December 19, 2014, to enable the congress take place on December 20.

Withdrawal
At yesterday's sitting, Mr. Didieye, speaking through his counsel, Kwaku Balado Manu, said he had withdrawn the case.

He said his client had decided to resolve the matter out of court.

Samuel Cudjoe, representing the NDC, said the party did not want to see any reapplication in respect of the case before the court.

Mr. Cudjoe asked the court to award cost against the plaintiff, but Justice Oppong refused, explaining that awarding cost was at the discretion of the court.

Didieye Explains
In an interaction with journalists, Didieye said he withdrew the case for the sake of the unity of the party and to throw his weight behind Kofi Adams, whom he described as a “good brother”.

BY Jeffrey De-Graft Johnson
Email: jeffdegraft44@yahoo.com