● As court orders maximum protection for FCT Minister
Former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olabode George, has described the recognition of the party’s faction led by the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as ‘the greatest joke of the year’
In a statement on Monday, George reiterated his earlier position that “Wike and some characters with him were expelled in Ibadan last November. They are just about two per cent of our party population. What INEC has just done has clearly confirmed what it wants to do during the 2027 presidential election. INEC doesn’t want any other party to field a presidential candidate to challenge Bola Tinubu.”
The statement reads further: “What INEC has just done by the recognition of Wike’s gang can only spell doom for this country because we are yet to attain nationhood with this type of pettiness. I am shocked that Prof. Amupitan assumed office only to recognise a less than 2% of PDP membership, who are only renegades, who have sold the party to the APC.
“Those founding fathers of our party will perpetually be cursing them because this is unacceptable. It is a dereliction of civility, legality as well as a shock.
“In the past, some people tried this and they didn’t succeed. I pray this country doesn’t go up in flames.
“INEC has just brought the greatest insult to Nigeria and the Nigerian people by supporting these renegades.
“We are waiting, I am waiting. I call on our people to wait for the Supreme Court judgement which will see the liberation of this country from this shenanigan. The truth must prevail, the will of the people must prevail, not this devilish, destabilising, disgusting approach to addressing governance. Everybody who wants to contest on the platform of PDP must be allowed to do so.
“INEC has just given room to Wike and his gang to decimate our party. I’m utterly disgusted, disappointed that the only political party that has been able to provide solutions to the perennial problems of this country is being dismantled. Myself and people of likeminds know that the will of the Almighty will prevail, that the will of the people of Nigeria will prevail. This shenanigan by the electoral body will not stand. It is absolute lunacy.
“This INEC is very sick, deceitful and dishonest, and not fit to manage the democracy of our great country”.
Meanwhile, a Federal High Court (FHC) in Abuja, on Monday, restrained the leadership of the PDP led by Kabiru Turaki from gaining access into the national secretariat of the party in Abuja.
Justice Joyce Abdulmalik made the order while delivering judgement in a suit instituted by a faction of the party loyal to the FCT Minister.
A faction of the party in the camp of the FCT minister, led by its acting National Chairman, Alhaji Mohammed Abdulrahman, had filed the suit.
In the suit, the PDP, Abdulrahman and Sen. Sameul Anyanwu, the factional National Secretary, had prayed the court to stop the police and DSS from allowing Turaki-led leadership (5th to 25th defendants) access to the party’s national secretariat at Wadara Plaza in Abuja.
They also sought an order of injunction, restraining INEC from accepting any other office address or any other address from the Turaki-led leadership as the PDP’s office address other than as already contained in the commission’s records.
They sought an order of injunction, restraining the Turaki leadership (5th to 25 defendants) from parading themselves as representatives of the PDP in any capacity whatsoever, among other reliefs.
In a judgement, Justice Abdulmalik also ordered security agencies, including the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), Department of State Services (DSS), among others, to give adequate protection to the Wike-led faction of the PDP while accessing the party’s secretariat in Abuja
On the request to transfer the case back to the chief judge (CJ) for reassignment, she held that the power to assign cases lies with the CJ and that it is “not the place of counsel to determine which judge will hear and determine their case.”
Justice Abdulmalik further stated that any dissatisfaction with her decisions is a matter for appeal, not recusal, and consequently refused the application for lacking in merit.
On the motion challenging the competence of the suit, the judge also declined to strike out the case.
She rejected the arguments that the court lacked jurisdiction and that the plaintiffs had no locus standi.
The defendants had argued that the dispute was purely an internal party affair, an abuse of court process, and that the plaintiffs lacked the legal right to institute the suit.
In her decision, the judge held that “jurisdiction is the lifewire and pillar upon which any matter can be determined” and must be assessed based on the originating processes.
She found that the claims involved the interpretation and enforcement of constitutional and statutory provisions, as well as compliance with earlier court judgments.
She, therefore, agreed with the plaintiffs that the suit was within the court’s jurisdiction.
The judge, who held that the objections raised by the defendants lacked merit, dismissed the application in its entirety.
The Wike-led PDP, on Sunday, held its own national convention where Abdulrahaman emerged as the substantive national chairman.
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