Politics

Justice Abang orders IGP to stop PDP convention

Published

8 years ago

August 16, 2016

PDP, INEC argue over postponement of Ondo election

Justice Okon Abang, has ordered the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr Ibrahim Idris, to ensure compliance of court order stopping the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP’s), national convention slated forWednesday in Port Harcourt.

He also threatened the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), of disciplinary action should it monitor the national convention.

Justice Abang of a Federal High Court, Abuja, on Tuesday re-affirmed his Monday’s interim order preventing PDP from going ahead with its plan to conduct its national convention slated for Wednesday August 17 (Tomorrow).

He also turned the interim order into an interlocutory injunction that will subsist till the time the substantive suit is heard and determined and adjourned the hearing of the case till September 7.

He then gave a stern warning to the chairman and secretary of INEC not to monitor the planned convention.

“Failure to comply with the order of the court will attract disciplinary action. The mighty will not escape just punishment. Whoever goes against the decision of this court will have themselves to blame,” provided “the plaintiffs ‎know what to do”, he said.

The judge’s order came after the plaintiffs, comprising the factional national chairman of the PDP, Ali Modu Sheriff and others, moved their motion asking for the interlocutory order on ‎Tuesday.

Abang held that the motion was not opposed as the respondents, including members of Ahmed Makarfi-led ‎caretaker committee of the party, failed to file a counter-affidavit opposing the motion.

According to the judge, Makarfi-led caretaker committee members, who were only on Tuesday joined as the third to the ninth respondents, adopted strategy of not filing counter-affidavit but other processes that were not found in the court file.

“They must sink and float with their legal strategy,” Abang ruled.

The judge faulted the decision of the Port Harcourt Division of the Federal High Court to assume jurisdiction on the case relating to the PDP convention and directed that his order be endorsed with Form 48 (Notice of disobedience of court order) and served on the INEC chairman and secretary.

By Ebere Ndukwu …

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