TVC E. The leadership crisis of the Peoples Democratic Party may have finally come to an end.
A Federal High Court sitting in Kubwa, Abuja presided over by Justice Ogbonna in her landmark judgment nullified the appointment of Senator Ali Modu Sheriff as PDP Chairman and declared his appointment as null and void.
The Judge in her ruling reaffirmed the judgment of Justice Valentine Ashi of the same FCT High Court which had on the 29th day of June, 2016 declared that:
1. The purported amendment of article 47(6) of the PDP Constitution of 2012 at a special National Convention of the Party held on Wednesday, 10th and Thursday 11th of December, 2014 is unconstitutional, null, void and of no effect, for non-compliance with mandatory due process as provided in Article 66(2) and (3) of the said Constitution.
2. By reason of the above, the purported amendment introduced in article 47 on the aforesaid dates are hereby set aside.
3. All persons or individuals, officers, servants and agents of the PDP parading themselves as national officers of the PDP purportedly pursuant to the said amendment which has now been nullified are hereby restrained from further parading themselves around in those capacities and claiming the rights and privileges attached or appurtenant thereto.
It will be recalled that PDP had about the 10th and 11th December, 2014 amended Section 47(6) of the Party’s Constitution which provided
“Where a vacancy occurs in any of the offices of the Party, the Executive committee at the appropriate level shall appoint another person from the area or zone where the officer originated from, pending the conduct election to fill the vacancy.”
To now read:
“Where a vacancy occurs in any of the offices of the Party, the Executive committee at the appropriate level shall appoint another person from the area or zone where the officer originated from, to serve out the tenure of the officer.”
Hence by reaffirming the judgment of Justice Ashi, the FCT High Court nullified the amendment under which senator Ali Modu Sheriff whence his appointment was abinitio as appointed Chairman void.
That being the case, the implication is that by the affidavit deposed in the Federal High Court Lagos by Sheriff where he admitted to have been appointed on the basis of the now nullified amended article of the PDP Constitution, Sheriff has been retrained from parading as the Chairman of the Party. Therefore, Sheriff ought not parade as Chairman of the Party, ought not appoint lawyers for PDP and indeed claim any of the rights and privileges attached to the office.
Except the both judgment of the FCT High Court are set aside on appeal, Sheriff cannot even be before Justice Abang and claim to be PDP Chairman or seek to enforce and enjoy any of the benefits of the chairman of PDP.
It will be noted that this case is distinct from all other cases as it deals with the foundation of sheriff’s emergence as Chairman. It punctures the pedestal on which Senator Sheriff stood to even approach Justice Buba of the Federal High court Lagos and Justice Abang of the Federal High Court Abuja.
With this judgment, the leadership tussle in PDP can be said to have been effectively brought to a legal end for now and Senator Ali Modu Sheriff has lost except the Court of Appeal decides otherwise. But before that time, some level of sanity can return to the opposition Party and the Senator Ahmed Makarfi led National Caretaker Committee of the Party will be in firm control of the Party and probably secure the reopening of the National Secretariat which has been sealed by the Police for about two months now.
