Despite all the political restructuring taking place within the PDP, the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party , Dr. Tukur seems not to be having any respite yet, as three members of the party have asked a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja to stop him from performing the duties of his office.
The members are also seeking an order of the Court to set aside the pronouncement of the June 20 PDP National Executive Committee meeting, which led to the appointment of about 18 acting national officers of the party.
The PDP members are also seeking for an order of interlocutory injunction, restraining the PDP “and all its agents, including its national chairman and any other person or group of persons acting for and on behalf of the defendant (PDP) from convening and or holding any meeting or convention in furtherance of the decision of the NEC of the defendant made during the pendency of this suit, pending the hearing and determination of this case”.
The PDP NEC had directed about 20 members of the party’s National Working Committee to vacate their positions, following a report of the Independent National Electoral Commission.
INEC, in the report, had noted that the emergence of the affected officers through voice votes, as against proper election, was a contravention of the party’s guidelines for congresses and conventions.
But three members of the party, Mr. Abba Yale, Yahaya Sule and Bashir Maidugu, who had hitherto in a suit asked for the dissolution of the PDP NWC, had filed a fresh suit seeking for an Order of the Court to set aside and nullify all the processes that led to the appointment of all the acting national officers.
They said in their prayers before the court that the appointment of the interim officers through memoranda, all dated “June 20, 2013 with reference number NEC/61/104/13 and NEC/61/105/13, addressed to the National Executive Committee of the defendant herein during the pendency of this suit was being done to pre-empt the decision of this court, in absolute self-help and in total disobedience and contempt of this honourable court.”
In the suit filed on their behalf by Samuel Okutepa, SAN, the PDP members submitted that the action of their party’s NEC in asking the officers indicted to relinquish their positions amounted to self-help, in view of a subsisting case on the matter.
Apart from the above, they are also asking the court to “restrain the National Chairman of the defendant (PDP) herein from performing any functions or duties assigned to the National Working Committee of the defendant pending the hearing and determination of this case.”
The presiding judge, Justice Suleiman Belgore, had earlier struck out the names of the former NWC members, whose election/appointment the plaintiffs had initially asked the court to nullify.
The judge struck out the names after an oral application moved by Okutepa.
The case had since been adjourned till July 15.
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