Justice Hussein Baba, of the Abuja High Court, Tuesday, ordered the Acting National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Uche Secondus to vacate the office within two weeks.
The court order followed a suit filed by erstwhile special adviser to former president, Goodluck Jonathan on Political Matters, Mr. Ahmed Gulak.
The court held that Secondus assumed the headship of the party through an illegitimate process.
Justice Baba agreed with the plaintiff that the position of the party’s national chairman was originally zoned to the North-East geo-political zone of the country and, therefore, cannot be occupied by Secondus.
The court directed Secondus to, within the next two weeks, hand over the leadership of the party to Gulak or any other member of the PDP from the North-East, who is worthy to pilot the affairs of the party in an acting capacity.
Gulak had, in his suit, challenged the emergence of Secondus as the interim leader of the party.
He prayed the court to sack the defendant, contending that by the provision of the PDP constitution and its zoning principle, he (Gulak), was the proper person to replace the last chairman of the party, Adamu Mu’azu, who hailed from the North-East geopolitical zone.
Gulak, through his lawyer, Mr. Jibrin Okutepa (SAN), urged the court to dismiss preliminary objections filed by the PDP and Secondus against his suit.
The defendants had challenged the competence of the suit, even as they queried the locus standi of the plaintiff to file the same.
