• Oyinlola appeals
THE crisis rocking the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is far from over as the National Working Committee (NWC) Monday mandated the Deputy National Secretary, Solomon Onwe, to assume duty in acting capacity.
A statement signed by the National Chairman of the party, Bamanga Tukur, in Abuja at the end of an emergency meeting of the NWC said the decision was in line with the constitution of the party, which says that in absence of the national secretary, the deputy national secretary could act as secretary.
This development came as the ousted National Secretary of the party, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, yesterday lodged an appeal at the Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, seeking to upturn the verdict of the Federal High Court, Abuja.
“Onwe shall by this directive conduct all correspondences of the party, issue notices of meetings of the National Convention, the National Executive Committee, the National Caucus and the National Working Committee as stipulated in the constitution of our great party. This directive takes immediate effect and is hereby communicated to all the levels and offices of the party,” the statement said.
The Guardian gathered that during the meeting which held at the party’s National Secretariat in Wuse, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), the NWC sought legal advice on the issue of Oyinlola, who was ordered by a Federal High Court in Abuja last week to vacate the office because he was not validly elected. After weighing the options before the NWC and following the advice of the National Legal Adviser, Victor Kwom, it was agreed that the court order be obeyed.
It was learnt that while a few members of the NWC were of the position that since Oyinlola had filed an appeal, the party should wait for the outcome before taking any action, the majority, including the national chairman, Bamanga Tukur, maintained that the only way the PDP could demonstrate seriousness about due process was to appoint an acting national secretary.
It was also understood that the appointment of Onwe as acting secretary was a stop-gap measure before a new substantive secretary is appointed from the South-West since the position was zoned to that geo-political zone.
Oyinlola predicated his appeal on the ground that the judgment was against the weight of evidence.
In his notice of appeal, Oyinlola submitted that the learned trial judge erred in law when he overruled the preliminary objection to the jurisdiction of the court and assumed jurisdiction and delivered judgment.
He added that the defendant/respondents against whom the principal reliefs are sought, are individual and a political party who are neither Federal Government nor an agency of the Federal Government of Nigeria.
Oyinlola further told the appellate court that the subject matter of the suit is an intra-party dispute, which clearly is not justifiable and that the Federal High Court and indeed no court of law has jurisdiction over the subject matter of the suit.
He further submitted that the learned trial judge erred in law when the court disregarded the ruling of the Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal in CA/35/12 delivered on June 25 2012 and held that the entire action does not constitute an abuse of court process.
The appellant therefore prayed the court for an order reversing the judgment of the trial judge and substituting thereto an order striking out and/or dismissing the entire action with costs.
Source: guardian
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