A faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has reacted to the Supreme Court judgment which nullified the party’s Ibadan convention, warning that the ruling could throw the opposition party into a leadership crisis.
In a statement signed by Comrade Ini Ememobong on Thursday, the group described the situation as “a dangerous bend” for the PDP and Nigeria’s multi-party democracy.
The Supreme Court, in a split decision of three to two delivered by a five-man panel led by Justice Mohammed Garba, upheld the judgments of the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal which nullified the convention held in Ibadan.
According to the statement, the majority judgment by Justices Chioma Nwosu-Iheme, Stephen Adah and Mohammed Garba ruled that the appellants disrespected a valid court judgment and were therefore in contempt of court.
“The three Justices hinged their judgments on the disrespect of a valid, subsisting judgment of the Federal High Court and therefore held that, being in contempt, the appellants cannot be accommodated in the apex court,” the statement said.
However, the faction noted that the minority judgment delivered by Justices Haruna Tsammani and Abubakar Umar held that the matter was an internal affair of the PDP and therefore “non-justiciable.”
The statement added that the minority justices argued that the case before the Federal High Court was about a leadership contest within the PDP and not the action of any federal government agency.
It also claimed that the minority judgment criticised the majority decision for raising issues without giving parties involved the chance to address the court on them.
“With this split judgment, which also upheld the Court of Appeal’s suspension of Ajibade, SAN, Anyanwu, and others, this effectively leaves the PDP as a party without a defined leadership,” the faction stated.
The group, however, expressed confidence that the party’s organs would take steps to stabilise the PDP and provide leadership going forward.
“This leads the vehicle of our party towards a dangerous bend, which, if not carefully navigated, may not only affect the party but also multi-party democracy in our country,” the statement added.
