More drama erupted in Peoples Democratic Party on Friday as Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja issued an order preventing the National Executive Committee (NEC) and Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Party (PDP) from ousting Umar Damagum as its Acting National Chairman.
The court ruled that no individual other than Damagum shall be recognized as the PDP national chairman until the party’s national convention set for December next year.
Justice Lifu issued the restraining order against the PDP NEC, BoT, and others while delivering judgment in a suit instituted against them by Senator Umar El-Gash Maina.
The judge stated that according to Articles 42, 47, and 67 of the PDP, national officers can only be elected at the party’s national convention.
In the suit, Justice Lifu said that PDP members are bound by the constitution of the party and as such must always act in line with the provisions and obedience to the party’s law
The plaintiff, claiming to be the chairman of the PDP in Yobe State, filed the lawsuit against the PDP and eight others, alleging that certain party stakeholders are secretly meeting to unlawfully remove Damagum from office, violating the party’s constitution.
He said that a former deputy governor of Kogi State, Phillip Salawu, was being pushed forward as a replacement for Damagun by the stakeholders.
Maina asserted that after discovering the plan, he submitted two separate letters addressing the secret meetings to the party’s national secretary, Samuel Anyanwu.
He noted that although the national secretary acknowledged receipt of both letters, neither he nor the members of the Board of Trustees have taken any action regarding the complaints and claims outlined in those letters.
This inaction, according to Maina, highlights a disregard for the concerns raised about the clandestine activities within the party.
In the suit instituted on his behalf by Joshua Musa who is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, the plaintiff therefore prayed the court to invoke articles 45, 47, and 67 of the PDP Constitution to stop the move to replace Damagum as the acting national chairman.
The plaintiff specifically asked the court to declare that the national chairmanship of the PDP is rotated between the north and south regions and not through any other procedure not enshrined in the PDP’s Constitution.
In his judgment after perusing the PDP’s Constitution and exhibits, Justice Lifu agreed with the plaintiff that Damagum can only be replaced at the national convention of PDP or through an order of a court.
Justice Lifu also held that any attempt to truncate the un-exhausted four-year tenure of the northern region without the national convention of the party would amount to an affront to the Constitution of the PDP.
Earlier, the judge had dismissed the opposition of the defendants to the suit on the grounds that the plaintiff had no locus standi to bring out the case and that the court lacked jurisdiction.
Justice Lifu held that the plaintiff predicated his suit on the protection of the PDP Constitution from being violated and the northern region where he hailed from being shortchanged from the four-year tenure.
Justice Lifu said that the plaintiff having displayed his PDP membership card before the court and having raised the fundamental issue of protection of PDP’s Constitution had sufficient interest and justiciable cause to institute the case.