A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Friday halted the suspension of a member of the Board of Trustees of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Chris Uba; Anambra state PDP governorship candidate, Senator Andy Uba; Benji Udeozor, Ejike Oguegebo, and Anthonia Nwakwu from the party pending when the matter before it will be determined.
The presiding judge, Justice A. R. Mohammed, consequently fixed September 5 for hearing of the motion on notice.
The National Working Committee (NWC) of the PDP had on Thursday suspended Uba and others for their failure to appear before it over their roles in the parallel governorship primaries conducted in the state Saturday last week.
The NWC had summoned the four to appear before it on Wednesday to explain why disciplinary actions should not be taken against them, in line with the constitution of the party, for conducting a parallel primary election.
However, all the affected members shunned the NWC invitation and approached the court via a motion ex-parte to quash their suspension.
The court, however, invited the PDP to show why the plaintiffs’ reliefs should not be granted.
At a resumed hearing of the matter on Friday, PDP’s counsel, Chief Clems Ezika, told the court that he had just been served with the Originating Summons in court earlier in the day, and that going by the rules of the court, he had three days to respond.
He prayed the court for an adjournment so as to enable him respond to the processes.
Counsel to the plaintiffs, Taiwo Abe, opposed the application for adjournment, stating that the respondents had, despite the pending court action, gone ahead to suspend the plaintiffs.
In his ruling, however, Justice Mohammed held that the adjournment was because the order to come and show cause (why plaintiffs’ reliefs should not be granted) was not served on the counsel.
He further held that a party that had been invited to come and show cause cannot go ahead to carry out an act that will render the order of the court an academic exercise. He said further that any action that has a coloration of sanction against the applicants is a deviation from the court’s order.
“I thereby make an interim order suspending the suspension of the plaintiffs from the party pending the determination of the motion on notice.”
Meanwhile, the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, said the party would get to the roots of the crisis in the state and resolve its differences.
He told newsmen in Abuja on Friday that all those concerned were being talked to, but insisted that both the Nigerian and the PDP constitutions streamlined the roles of INEC in primaries, and that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had no power to dictate to the party on the conduct of gubernatorial primaries.
“We have made contacts with the electoral commission over our candidate in Anambra. Neither the Nigerian constitution nor the PDP constitution gives INEC power to elect candidates for us during primaries,” he said.
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