South-South PDP calls for calm among stakeholders, as Court upholds Orbih’s Vice-Chairmanship

The South-South zone of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has appealed for calm amongst stakeholders after a High Court sitting in Abuja upheld the Vice-Chairmanship position of Dan Orbih.

Justice O.A. Adeniyi, the Presiding Judge, gave the ruling on Thursday in the wake of an ex-parte application filed by Orbih.

Ripples Nigeria had reported that Orbih and seven other members were purportedly suspended for alleged anti-party activities after a vote of no confidence was passed on them by the Edo North Senatorial leadership of the party.

The order by Adeniyi read in part, “An order of interim injunction restraining the defendant (PDP) at any level by itself from giving effect to, recognising or acting upon any so-called confirmation or ratification of the resolution of October 7 2021 by a so-called enlarged meeting of party leaders and/or state working committee suspending the applicant (Orbih) from the party.”

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Meanwhile, in the aftermath of the Court’s ruling, the Zonal Working Committee of the South-South PDP appealed for calm and unity amongst the ranks of the warring stakeholders while passing a vote of confidence on Orbih.

This was contained in a statement issued by Bishop Ante, the spokesman of the caucus.

He said, “The south-south zonal working committee passed a vote of confidence on the national vice chairman south south, Chief Dan Orbih for his exemplary leadership of the Zone.”

An excerpt from the statement titled, “PDP sues for unity and party discipline in the South-South zone” read, “We want to state clearly that the People’s Democratic Party is a party governed by law, and these laws are enshrined in the party 2017 Constitution as amended.

“Section 57(2) has clearly provided that every disciplinary committee shall be formed by the executives of the party at that level. But in the present case, there is nothing to show that the duly elected party executives constituted any such committee. By this, the constitution has been breached.

“In the light of the above, it should be noted that any disciplinary measure that is inconsistent with the provisions of Section 57 of the party constitution is null, void, and of no effect.”

The statement also stated how the party has been working towards ensuring redressing the challenges facing the people in the region.

“In our meeting, we had very useful discussions on the way forward for the south~south in conjunction with other zones to bring PDP back to power at the federal level.

“We are greatly worried about the security challenges facing our people. We call on the federal government to do the needful to secure our people. We lament the poor state of federal roads in the zone.

“We urge our Governors & critical stakeholders to close ranks to address the problems facing the zone,” the statement read.

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