•As court insists on order granting conduct of lbadan convention
•Group of PDP state chairmen declares support for Muhammad, Ohuabunwa-led faction
By Yahaya Umar, Abuja
Amid counter court orders, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, National Working Committee, NWC, and the 2025 National Convention Organising Committee, NCOC, have stated that the PDP National Convention will hold as planned on Saturday, in Ibadan, National Publicity Secretary of the party, Debo Ologunagba, has said.
Ologunagba, who is also the Secretary, Publicity and Communication Sub-Committee of NCOC, also urged the party members and Nigerians in general to disregard what he called misleading claims being peddled by some individuals who, he claimed, were recruited by the All Progressives Congress, APC, to stop the national convention.
According to him, “The NCOC and the party will continue to work assiduously round the clock to ensure a successful national convention in Ibadan, as scheduled.
“While thanking Nigerians for their overwhelming support for our party, the NCOC welcomes all delegates, party leaders, officials and all supporters of the PDP who have already started arriving Ibadan for the national convention”.
Besides, Oyo State High Court has ruled that its earlier order granting the Peoples Democratic Party to proceed with its Ibadan National Convention on Nov. 15 and 16 subsists.
Justice Ladiran Akintola gave the ruling in Ibadan, yesterday.
The claimant, a PDP member, Mr Folahan Adelabi, had, in his earlier ex parte motion, prayed the court to restrain the respondents from truncating the scheduled national convention.
The respondents are the PDP, its acting National Chairman, Umar Damagun; and Gov. Umar Fintiri of Adamawa State for himself and as a member of the PDP National Convention Organising Committee.
The fourth respondent is the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
The court granted Adelabi’s prayers on Nov. 4, directing the PDP leadership to adhere to the guidelines, timetable and schedule of activities earlier released for the convention in Ibadan.
It also directed parties to file all their processes in the matter.
At Wednesday’s proceedings, Mr Emmanuel Ukala (SAN), counsel representing parties to be newly joined as the fifth, sixth and seventh defendants, informed the court of his application for joinder.
However, before moving his application for joinder, the judge drew his attention to the unsigned affidavit in support of his processes before the court, hence making the processes incompetent.
Ukala responded that his copy of the document and those of Mr A. Ladapo, counsel to the third defendant, and Mr O. Adeyemi, counsel to INEC, were duly signed by the Commissioner for Oaths.
He, however, said that copies of the documents served the claimant’s counsel, Mr Musibau Adetumbi, and that of Mr D. Durosaro, counsel to PDP and Fintiri, were not signed.
Ukala told the court that the error must have originated from the registrar.
He, therefore, urged the court to stand down the matter to find out what really happened from the registry.
Opposing the stand-down application, Durosaro said that standing it down won’t cure the defect of the unsigned affidavit.
According to him, since the document before the court was not signed by the deponent, it, therefore, has no authorship.
He then urged the court to strike out the affidavit, saying that a signature was vital in any document before the court.
INEC’s counsel, Adeyemi, while aligning with Durosaro’s submission, said standing down the matter wouldn’t serve any purpose, adding that the error or omission of the signature couldn’t be cured.
Reacting, Adetumbi said there was no need to stand down the matter and doing so would amount to nullity.
In his ruling, the judge said that having an unsigned affidavit was a serious fundamental error beyond reform.
Akintola thereby ordered Ukala to tidy up and refile his processes, ruling that the court’s earlier order granting PDP to proceed with its national convention in Ibadan stands.
He said the court would determine whether to vacate the order or not on the next adjourned date.
He then adjourned the matter till Friday for the hearing of the pending applications.
A group of state chairmen of the Peoples Democratic Party has expressed support for the fractional acting National Chairman of the party, Alhaji Abdulrahman Muhammad.
They also supported Sen Mao Ohuabunwa as Chairman, Board of Trustees, BoT.
The chairmen expressed their support in a statement by the Imo state Chairman, Austine Nwachukwu, in Abuja on Wednesday.
Nwachukwu described Muhammad and Ohuabunwa as leaders with the democratic spirit and institutional memory and inclusive vision.
Nwachukwu said that the party leaders possessed those qualities required to rebuild trust, restore confidence and drive the ongoing process of reconciliation and reorganisation across all levels of the PDP.
“We have absolute confidence in their leadership capacity, experience and integrity to steer the PDP through this period of renewal and repositioning”, he said.
Nwachukwu said that under the guidance of Abdulrahman and Ohuabunwa, PDP would be better positioned to reclaim its historic role as the chief promoter and defender of democracy in Nigeria.
He called on all loyal members, from the grassroots to the national level, to unite, put aside personal ambitions and work collectively towards the revival and transformation of the PDP.
He expressed the state chairmen’s commitment to build a PDP that Nigerians could once again look up to with pride and confidence as the credible alternative, the voice of democracy and the platform for good governance.
Nwachukwu reaffirmed the state chairmen collective faith in the immense potential of the party to reinvent itself and reclaim its status as Nigeria’s foremost political platform and one capable of fulfilling the aspirations of the people.
“We recognise that the PDP was founded on the timeless ideals of democracy, justice, equity and inclusiveness principles that have sustained its relevance since the advent of the Fourth Republic”, he said
Nwachukwu said that as custodians of those ideals, it was the responsibility of the state chairmen to ensure that the party not only survives its current challenges but emerges stronger, more united and truly reflective of the will of its members and the Nigerian people.
“In this regard, we affirm our unwavering commitment to the rule of law, internal democracy and total adherence to the provisions of our party’s constitution in the day-to-day administration of our affairs.
“We believe that discipline, fairness and constitutional order are indispensable to the credibility and sustainability of our great party”, he said.
