Politics

Fayose ignores court, says PDP Southwest congress will hold

Published

8 years ago

May 13, 2016

Fayose incurably rude, desperate to rubbish Aisha Buhari, presidency says

The scheduled South West Zonal election of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, may have run into troubled waters, as Justice Ibrahim Buba of a Federal High Court in Lagos has restrained the party from going ahead with its zonal congress in the South-West, just as Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose has insisted the congress will hold as scheduled.

The congress is scheduled to hold on Saturday, May 14, 2016 tomorrow)

Ruling on an ex-parte application brought before him on Thursday by the incumbent South West Zonal Secretary, Chief ‘Pegba Otemolu, Justice Buba restrained the party from going ahead with the scheduled congress.

The judge also ruled that the order would subsist until the final determination of Otemolu’s main suit.

According to the applicant, the proposed zonal congress was unlawful because the four-year tenure of the current South-West Zonal Executive, which, he claimed, began on October 11, 2014 would not end until October 11, 2018.

Otemolu therefore prayed the court to declare that it was wrong for the party and its national officers to contemplate organising a zonal congress for the South-West when the tenure of the Zonal Executive Committee members had not lapsed.

Read also: Buhari tells how meeting Chibok girls parents will affect his health

The Independent National Electoral Commission; the PDP; its National Chairman and Secretary, Ali Modu Sheriff; and Prof. Wale Oladipo respectively, were joined as respondents.

Justice Buba said in his ruling: “An order of interlocutory injunction is granted to the plaintiff/applicant restraining the second, third and fourth defendants from conducting or permitting or recognising any election into the offices of the South-West Zonal Executive Committee pending the hearing and determination of the Originating Summons.”

He adjourned further proceedings till May 24, 2016.

However, Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has insisted that the South-West zonal congress of the PDP slated for Saturday in Akure, Ondo State will hold as scheduled.

The governor, according to a statement on Thursday, stated this while addressing journalists at the PDP National Secretariat in Abuja .

According to Fayose, materials for the congress had already been distributed through the appropriate authority, adding that the party was not aware of any court order stopping the congress and that machinery was in motion for a hitch-free congress.

Fayose said: “I can confirm that materials for the congress have been handed to the congress committee and the committee is set for the congress. Anyone talking about court order is only deceiving himself and it is now time for the party to operate devoid of any abracadabra court orders.

“I, therefore, urge all delegates and leaders of our party to converge on Akure on Saturday for the congress as scheduled.”

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