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Secondus to challenge Appeal Court’s ruling on PDP convention

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The suspended National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Uche Secondus, has rejected the ruling of the Appeal Court which dismissed his bid to stop the party’s national convention.

The PDP will hold its national convention at the weekend.

Secondus had in an application asked the appellate court to restrain the party from going ahead with the national convention.

This followed his suspension as the PDP national chairman by a court in Rivers State.

However, in a unanimous verdict on Friday, a three-member panel of the appeal court dismissed the application for lacking in merit.

Secondus, who reacted to the ruling in a statement issued by his media aide, Ike Abonyi, said he would appeal the judgment “immediately” to avoid abuse of the party’s constitution.

The statement read: “I have just been briefed of the ruling of the Court of Appeal, Port Harcourt dismissing my motion to halt the National Convention of the party. I respect the position of the court even though I disagree totally with it.

“Even as the substantive case is still pending at the Court of Appeal, I have instructed my lawyers to study the ruling with a view to appealing it immediately as no abuse of the constitution of our dear party should be allowed to stand.

 “The issue is not about Prince Uche Secondus but the sanctity of our party constitution and core democratic principles of justice and rule of law, not only in PDP but in our democracy. No impunity must be condoned.

READ ALSO: Secondus loses as Appeal Court okays PDP convention

“I will therefore wish to emphasise the fact that I did not take the party to court and would not have done that. As a foundation member of this party who has served at various levels, State Chairman, Chairman of state Chairmen, National Organising Secretary, Deputy National Chairman, Acting National Chairman, and now National Chairman, I am very much abreast with the workings of the party. I have been a witness to how much harm litigations have done to our party in the past and as a result, I have been a strong advocate against settling issues in courts.

“This was why I resisted and rejected entreaties of those who wanted me to go to court to halt these forces when it was obvious that they were determined to disrupt my leadership and truncate my tenure in office with the sole objective of hijacking the party for their selfish ulterior motives.

“To allow this travesty to stand is to reduce our beloved party to a level where anybody can wake up overnight and remove officers against the proscribed constitutional process and the National Chairman for that matter. And purporting to use the judiciary through an ex parte order to legitimise same.

 “As a major practitioner in our democracy, I am duty-bound to protect and defend the sanctity of the provisions of our constitution of which I am the custodian.”

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