A Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday left the Peoples Democratic
Party disappointed by ruling that the expulsion of Senator Buruji
Kashamu and leaders of his Ogun PDP faction was unlawful.
However, the same court affirmed the party’s power to expel an erring member of the party.
National
Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, apparently had not
fully read the judgment in the suit marked FCT/HC/CV/0303/2017 before
rushing out a statement to commend the judge and also interpret it to
mean that the verdict validated the nomination of Ladi Adebutu as the
governorship candidate of the party.
Buruji Kashamu claims
that he is the legal candidate. On Tuesday, he, along with his running
mate, Dr. Reuben Abati, launched his campaign in Ijebu-Igbo as the
authentic, court-endorsed governorship candidate of the party.
According
to a report posted on Kashamu’s Twitter handle on Thursday, the court
did not grant the PDP all the prayers it wanted. Rather, it only got
affirmation for its right to discipline members. And this came with a
caveat: the sanctioning must follow due process and the rule of law.
Justice
Valentine Ashi, maintained that though the PDP was empowered by its
constitution to discipline, reprimand, bar or expel recalcitrant members
from its fold, it held that due process must be followed in the
exercise of such powers.
Justice Ashi had in a previous ruling on
October 10, nullified the suspension in August of Kashamu and other
members of the party on the premise that the action was carried out
without regards to due process and in total disregard to a pending suit
on the matter.
He held that the PDP took the action in flagrant
disobedience of a subsisting order the court made on December 7, 2017,
which was restated on January 9, 2018, directing parties not to do
anything to jeopardise the hearing of the pending case brought against
Kashamu, Dayo and two others by the party itself.
The court
scolded the party for resorting to self-help by suspending its affected
members, despite the pendency of the legal action they instituted
against it.
The judge trod the same path on Thursday. The judge did not validate the expulsion of Kashamu and the others.
“The
decision to suspend the defendants was nullified, because it was taken
during the pendency of the suit, which suspension this court had
reversed in an earlier ruling.
“That the plaintiff’s first and
second reliefs succeed is not to say that the suspension has been
reversed. Parties are to revert to the status quo before the suspension.
The plaintiff is at liberty to exercise its disciplinary powers, but
with due process”.
Justice Ashi declined to pronounce on the
plaintiff’s other reliefs which include prayers for restraining
injunctions against Kashamu and the Adebayo Dayo-led faction to prevent
them from taking steps to disrupt the last non-elective convention that
was held by the PDP.
The judge said the reliefs were overtaken by events since the said convention had been held.
The
PDP had through a letter dated August 1, announced its expulsion of
Senator Kashamu who is representing Ogun East and the state PDP
Chairman, Engr Adebayo Dayo.
The victims rushed to court for protection.
In
an obvious misinterpretation of the judgment, the PDP Publicity
secretary Ologbodiyan urged the Independent National Electoral
Commission, (INEC) to copiously take note of the development and the
conduct of the governorship election in Ogun.
“The PDP invites Nigerians, the people of Ogun and particularly the INEC to take copious note of the judgment of the court.
“The
judgement, in suit no: FCT/HC/0303/2017, delivered today, Dec. 13, 2018
affirmed the powers of the PDP, as provided in her constitution, to
discipline and punish any member who contravenes any of the provisions
of its constitution.
“By this judgment, it is clear that Kashamu
is not a member of the PDP, and cannot, under any circumstance
whatsoever, claim to be the governorship candidate of the party in Ogun,
moreso, when he never participated in any of its nomination
processes.’’
Ologbondiyan said that going by the expulsion of the
senator from the PDP in August, Buruji lost his membership of PDP and
as such, did not partake in any of the party’s nomination processes.
“He
did not purchase the PDP governorship nomination form and did not
participate in any way whatsoever in our Ogun governorship primary. Yet,
he had continued to cause confusion and parade himself as PDP
candidate.
“Finally, the PDP commends the people of Ogun for
standing steadfast with its governorship candidate, Adebutu, who is
already coasting to victory in the 2019 polls,’’ he said. NAN
Source:- Thenationonlineng
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