PDP convention holds Saturday as court strikes out Secondus' suit

PDP convention holds Saturday as court strikes out Secondus’ suit

An Appeal Court sitting in Port Harcourt has dismissed the appeal of the embattled national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Uche Secondus, seeking an interim injunction to restrain the PDP from conducting its national convention billed for Saturday and Sunday, October 30 and 31, 2021, in Abuja.

With the ruling, the opposition party can now go ahead with it’s convention tommorow.

The three-man panel dismissed the appeal which was filed on October 14, 2021, for lacking in merit.

The judgement was read by Justice Gabriel Kolawale which was unanimously endorsed by the other two members of the panel.

The court also ordered the PDP to go ahead with the party’s national convention scheduled to hold in Abuja for Saturday and Sunday.

The panel of three judges led by Justice Haruna Tsammani gave the order in a judgement.

Secondus filed a suit marked:CA/PH/339/2021 seeking, among others, to restrain the PDP from conducting its national convention.

The court held that the application was an afterthought and abuse of court processes, adding that after due consideration of the facts and circumstances of the case, it was “neither just nor convenient to agree to the appellant’s application.”

The panel of three judges led by Justice Tsammani found no merit in Secondus’ appeal, saying he voluntarily relinquished his office since he did not challenge his removal at ward and local government levels.

Justice Gabriel Kolawole who read the judgement on behalf of the panel members, ruled that Secondus’ application was a distraction against the PDP in holding its convention.

Kolawole upheld the judgement of the lower court, reiterating that Secondus failed to join the acting national chairman nominated by the party to oversee the convention in the suit.

“And, he (Secondus) cannot claim to fight for personal right to clinch back his position after the party that gave him the power has already given it out to another,” the judge added.

“Having regards to this development, to acceed to the appellant application will cause greater problems and confusion to the 6th respondent (PDP), especially as it relates with all plans and arrangements for its National Convention,”he said.

Mr. Henry Bello, one of the counsel to PDP who spoke on behalf of other counsel, said that the court had dismissed the application of Secondus to stop the PDP National Convention.

Bello stated that several reasons had been given by the court but they are not in favoured by the court because the matter was only agured on October 28 and the ruling on October 29.

“We have not been given through certified copy so we will not like to mislead the public, but it is sufficient that the court has not found any merit in the application, so the application is dismissed,” he said.

Mr. Tayo Oyetibo, counsel for the appellant, in an interview with newsmen said that the court agreed that the application was not an abuse of court process contrary to the view of others.

He stated that the court took the view that because of all the arrangements that the party had made and also the expenses that they had incurred the injunction will not be accepted. So, the court has directed that the PDP should continue its National Convention.

“But the instruction is that the appeal continues depending on the outcome of the appeal, if we succeed it will have an impact on whatever decision that is taken by the National Convention because we still have an appeal pending in this court,” he said.

WALE ELEGBEDE