The removal of the former Abdul Kafarati of national secretary of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola and the national auditor, Chief Bode Mustapha has been deemed as legal by a Federal High Court in Abuja
Justice Abdul Kafarati on Wednesday dismissed a motion brought by the sacked duo seeking to halt their removal from office, which sought to apply for a stay of execution of the judgment of the court, nullifying the South West zonal congress through which the national officers emerged.
The nullification of the zonal congress was consequent upon a suit brought by a faction of the PDP in Ogun State, challenging the validity of the said exercise.
Delivering ruling on the motion in Chief Adedayo Dayo & anor vs Prince Oyinlola & others, the court held that the motion was incompetent and subsequently dismissed it, legalizing their removal from office which had taken place while the motion was pending.
The ruling which was earlier scheduled for morning was later delivered by 1 pm.
The sacked national officers had brought the motion to stop the execution of the judgment sacking them from office since their appeal against the judgment was not ripe for hearing then.
However, the hearing of the appeal came up at the Court of Appeal, Lagos Division yesterday with the court adjourning indefinitely for ruling on whether the withdrawal of the appeal by the party’s national chairman, Bamanga Tukur, was valid or not.
Counsel for Tukur and PDP, Joe Gadzama, represented by a junior counsel from his chambers, in arguing the move to withdraw the appeal yesterday, told the court that Tukur personally briefed him to withdraw the appeal which was originally filed on behalf of the sacked officers by PDP against the Ogun faction’s suit.
Gadzama explained that it was within the purview of Tukur to order the withdrawal of the appeal because it was filed by the party, even as he conceded that Oyinlola and Mustapha could go ahead and file their individual appeals once the court okays the withdrawal of the party’s.
He also disclosed that he had agreed to the request of the sacked officers to stop appearing as their counsel in the appeal, but argued that such request would not stop the party which he represented from withdrawing its original appeal.
Oyinlola and Mustapha are contending that they were a product of the national convention of the party and not zonal congress.
They also claimed in their letter to Gadzama that issues in the contentious appeal touched on them as individuals which would not make it a sole responsibility of Gadzama to withdraw.
After listening to parties in the suit, the court adjourned indefinitely for ruling, promising to contact their counsel on ruling date.
Meanwhile, the National Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur has reportedly resolved to sack most of his personal aides any time from now, in a move that he is hoping would solve the multi-faceted crisis rocking the party.
This was according to an informed source close to Alhaji Tukur who disclosed this on Wednesday, saying that he decided to drop all his aides who have been accused of being the architect of the whole crises.
“Yes!,it is true, the National Chairman has made up his mind to change most of his personal aides any time from now. He is a listening democrat to the core. He had assessed the crises and had heard series of propositions towards finding a lasting solution to it for him to settle down and move the party forward ahead of the 2015 general elections. One of such propositions is the sacking of his personal aides to give peace a chance,” the source declared.
According to the source, “as I speak now, the National Chairman is already searching for their replacements. Those coming in will be made up of the best hands in their various chosen professions.
They will bring in their wealth of experience to assist in prosecuting the 10 point agenda of Alhaji Tukur along with his NWC members.’’