PDP: Court Affirms Sheriff’s Sack …Says May 21 National Convention, Valid

A Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt on Monday declared  that the  May 21, 2016 National Convention of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was duly constituted, declaring that the dissolution of the National Working Committee and the National Executive Committee by that convention was valid.
In his judgment  on the suit filed by the PDP against Senator Ali Modu Sheriff and others, Justice Abdullahi Liman, declared that the appointment of the Caretaker Committee  of the PDP to oversee its affairs was legal and in line with the provisions of the PDP Constitution.
Liman said that Article 31 (1) of the  PDP  constitution  vested the powers to convene a national  convention  on the National Executive Committee of the party.
The court held that pursuant  to the constitution of the party, the former acting national chairman had no powers to unilaterally  postpone  the properly  constituted national convention  on a day all delegates  had converged  on Port Harcourt,  the host city.
He described the action of Senator Ali Modu Sheriff as most unconscionable, pointing out that the former acting national chairman participated in all the processes leading to the National Convention, only to make a u-turn at the final minute after he was screened and disqualified.
The court ruled that after Sheriff was disqualified following his screening,  the only option that was left to him was to have gone to the venue of the National Convention to seek the opinion of delegates  whether they were prepared to go on with the convention or not.
According to Liman, the absence of Senator Ali Modu Sheriff from the convention did not invalidate the process as his powers were not usurped.
The court declared that under Article 35 (b) of the PDP constitution, in the absence of the chairman, the deputy chairman was empowered to preside over the National Convention.
It, therefore, ruled that the May 21st, 2016 PDP National Convention was properly constituted and the decisions taken at the convention, valid.
The Federal High Court further ruled that in line with Article 33 (2) of the PDP  constitution,  the National Convention of the party is supreme and can exercise  the powers to dissolve the National Working Committee and the National Executive Committee of the party.
On the issue of the abuse of court process claimed by Sheriff, the court held that the plaintiffs in the case in question were not the same in the cases mentioned by the defendants, noting that the plaintiffs’ suit only centred on the National Convention.
The court noted that five days to the National Convention, the former acting National Chairman, had through his counsel, dissociated himself from one of the suits they filed via proxies.
Liman  emphasised  that there was no suit challenging the conduct of the National Convention  in Port Harcourt and that no injunction sought to stop the convention.
Addressing  journalists  after the judgment, Counsel to the PDP, Dejo Lamikanra  (SAN) said that the judgment settles all the contending issues concerning  the  PDP.
He said with the judgement,  the decision of the National Convention  to appoint  a Caretaker Committee stands and that Senator Ali Modu Sheriff was duly sacked.
In his remarks, Secretary of the Caretaker Committee, Senator Ben Obi, declared  that the Caretaker Committee will now settle down to carry out the responsibility bestowed on it by the National Convention.
Counsel to Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, Mr John Martins Abu commended the court for its judgment.