Court Stops PDP State Congress, Committee Slams Bode George

A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos this morning restrained the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, from conducting this year’s state convention for the party for the purpose of electing party executive committees in Lagos State.

The order of the court was sequel to a suit filed by nine local government chairmanship aspirants.

The plaintiffs, Alhaji Imam Akorede, Toyin Afolabi, Engr. Benjamin Akinsanya, Victor Olajide, Taofeek Dabiri, Remilekun Tiamiyu, Alhaji Kabiru Adio Agbabiaka, Alhaji Idowu Akinsanya and Dr. Amos Alabi Fawole filed the suit.

A Lagos lawyer, Barrister Olumide Sofowora took the action on behalf of the plaintiffs.

According to an affidavit in support of the suit, sworn to by one of the aspirants, Toyin Asimiyu Afolabi, no elections were held into ward congresses on Saturday, 12 March, 2012 since the sham elections held in some wards were characterised by lots of irregularities like non publication of names of candidates and eligible voters.

He said this caused a serious violence aimed at preventing candidates at ward levels who collected forms to participate in the election that purportedly took place, hiding of nomination forms so that some elegible candidates will not be able to contest and printing of fake result sheets different from the ones supplied by the National secretariat of the party; so as to falsify election result, thereby seriously violating the guidelines for election as well as the party’s constitution.

Mr. Afolabi further averred that INEC, whose chairman is the 13th defendant in the suit and whose duty is to monitor and attend nomination of members into political offices, at any level, had stated on Wednesday, 7 March, 2012 that the ward congress election held on Saturday 3 March in 10 states including Lagos fell short of expectation as it was marred by violence and non compliance with the constitution of the PDP.

In view of these, the plaintiffs urged the court to restrain Ambassador Musiliu Obanikoro, Mrs. Dupe Sasore, Chief Ayo Waddel and eight others who are members of PDP Transition, Reconciliation and Congress Committee set up by the National executive of the PDP to conduct election into the various congresses in Lagos state.

When the matter was mentioned this morning, Mr. Sofowora told the court that efforts to serve the defendants was aborted as the clerks who were supposed to serve them with court process were chased away.

Therefore, in order to preserve the substance of the suit, the PDP should be restrained from conducting the congress tomorrow, since the suit is to address the injustice meted out to the plaintiff, the counsel said, adding that if the congress is held tomorrow, Saturday 17 March, there will be nothing to preserve again.

In his ruling, Justice Mohammed Liman restrained the defendants from conducting the congress tomorrow.

The court later adjourned the substantive suit till Tuesday 20 March, 2012.

Justice Liman also ordered that the defendants be served and the proof of service produced in the court.

Meanwhile, the Transition, Reconciliation and Congress Committee, TRCC, set up by the southwest Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to oversee the affairs of the party in Lagos state, has accused its former leader, Chief Olabode George of eroding the power of the committee.

According to the committee set up to reconcile its factions and conduct the congresses in Lagos state, the outgoing state executive of the PDP which it described as a contraption of George has completely marginalised and blocked the committee.

In a statement jointly signed by Chief Mrs. G.M. Sasore, Chief Ayo Waddell and Dr. Lekan Sobowale, the TRCC claimed, “all the process of reconciliation and harmonisation has been frustrated to the extent that there is no more meeting point between the two major factions in the party any longer.”

The committee condemned the state secretary of the party, Mr. Tunji Shelle who they accused of bias in the distribution of forms to interested members of the party.

They alleged that Shelle denied many members access to forms while he arranged for private distribution to his master’s loyalists. Some members were forced to buy directly from the National Secretariat of the PDP.

The committee stated that members of the congress committee were not supposed to be members of the party in the state but Engr. Tunji Amosu and Alhaji Wale Owokoniran who are loyalists of George were supervising party congress election in the state, contrary to the practice in the PDP in other states.

“We therefore reject in its totality, the results of the congress and appeal passionately that the exercise carried out by this compromised congress committee be rejected and future committees should be constituted in the usual spirit of the party’s congress/convention guidelines,” the committee stated.

When the acting National Chairman of the party was in Lagos recently, the TRCC claimed he met only Chief Bode George, a factional leader of the party who could only give the national secretariat a one-sided report of the position of the PDP in Lagos state.

The committee members said they have been rendered irrelevant but blamed its chairman, Ambassador Musiliu Obanikoro for being part of the plot to make the TRCC impotent as he has always jettisoned collective decisions of the group.

Mrs. Sasore, Chief Waddell and Dr. Sobowale therefore called on the national secretariat of the PDP to take urgent steps to resolve the lingering crises in the party in Lagos state before it gets too late.

—Akin Kuponiyi & Moyo Fabiyi