October 11, 2024
An Abuja Federal High Court, on Friday, restrained the Peoples Democratic Party PDP’s national leadership from removing it acting national chairman, Mr Umar Damagum.
In a virtual proceeding monitored in Abuja, Justice Peter Lifu, ordered the PDP National Executive Committee, NEC and Board of Trustees BoT not to recognised any other person as the party’s national chairman until the national convention of the party scheduled for December 2025.
The judge held that in line with Articles 42, 47, and 67 of PDP, national officers can only be elected only at the party’s national convention.
Lifu, said that PDP members are bound by the constitution of the party and as such must always act in line with the provisions and obedience to the party’s law.
Recall that the suit, marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/579/2024, was instituted by Joshua Musa, SAN, on Sen. Umar Maina’s behalf.
The plaintiff, who claimed to be chairman of the PDP in Yobe, sued the PDP and eight others.
He alleged that some stakeholders of the party had been holding clandestine meetings to forcefully remove Damagum from office in gross violation of the party’s constitution.
He said that a former Deputy Governor of Kogi, Dr Phillip Salawu, was being pushed forward as a replacement for Damagun by the stakeholders.
Maina claimed that upon becoming aware of the plan he wrote, two separate letters complaining against the clandestine meetings that were delivered to the national secretary of the party, Sen. Samuel Anyanwu.
However despite the acknowledgment of the two letters, the national secretary and BoT members never deemed it fit to act on the letters and their claims.
He, therefore, prayed the court to invoke Articles 45, 47, and 67 of the PDP Constitution to stop the move to replace Damagum as the acting national chairman.
The plaintiff specifically asked the court to declare that the national chairmanship of PDP is rotated between the north and south regions and not through any other procedure not enshrined in its constitution.
Delivering the judgment, Justice Lifu agreed with the plaintiff that Damagum could only be replaced at the national convention of PDP or through an order of a court.
