Politics
PDP crisis: Sheriff still refuses to leave, challenges court judgement
Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, factional National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has insisted he remains the party chairman, saying that Federal High Court, Port Harcourt had no power to remove him from office.
A Federal High Court in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, had on Monday July 4, upheld the removal of Senator Ali Modu Sheriff as the PDP chairman, declaring that the May 21, 2016 National Convention of the PDP that sacked him as the acting chairman of the party did not go against any rule.
Justice Abdullahi Liman, who delivered the judgement in a suit brought before him by the PDP, sanctioned the decisions taken at the convention as valid.
But Sheriff while addressing journalists in Abuja, argued that the three Federal high courts, which ruled on the same case, in Abuja, Lagos and Port Harcourt, were of the same competent jurisdiction and as such the judgment of one was not superior to the other.
Sheriff said, “The court that gave judgement in Abuja last week and the Federal High Court in Lagos and today’s court in Port Harcourt are all courts of the same competent jurisdiction. Therefore, the orders that we have in Abuja is still subsisting.
“What it means is that unless a Court of Appeal decides otherwise, I still remain the National Chairman of the PDP. Any court that is of the same jurisdiction cannot overrule another court unless it is Court of appeal.
Read also: PDP: Sheriff remains sacked, court affirms
“We disagree with today’s judgment completely. We have asked our lawyers to immediately file an appeal and also ask the same court for stay of execution because there were three orders before his own, which are of coordinate jurisdiction.
“Unless and until the Court of Appeal, which is a higher court makes a pronouncement contrary to what we have, I still remain the chairman.”
Also Sheriff’s lawyer, Mr. Ajibola Oluyede, in a statement he released later said he had proceeded to the Court of Appeal to challenge the Monday judgment.
RipplesNigeria …without borders, without fears
Join the conversation
Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism
Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.
As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.
If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.
Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.
INVESTIGATION: In Kwara, multimillion-naira milk processing plant is abandoned, converted to a chicken outlet
After the government spent millions of naira to establish a milk processing plant in Kwara State that would provided jobs...
SPECIAL REPORT: For Sokoto communities, promise of healthcare is akin to death sentence
In this story, ABDULRASHEED HAMMAD delves into the dire realities of Primary Health Care services in Sokoto State, shedding light...
ICYMI…SPECIAL REPORT: NNPCL hides behind PIA to frustrate disclosure, accountability
Nigeria’s major oil company, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL), in what appears to be a common practice of disregard...
INVESTIGATION: Multi-million naira Ekiti resort center remains uncompleted a decade after
The multimillion-naira project, expected to comprise recreational buildings, now consists of cassava farmland, a bush used for excretion, and a...
SPECIAL REPORT: Torturous experiences of students with disabilities in Oyo tertiary institutions
For students with disabilities in Oyo state-owned tertiary institutions, learning is a torturous and distressing experience, considering the building structures...