Oyinlola’s removal in order, says PDP

The National Working Committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said that the removal of Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola as secretary and the appointment of Mr Solomon Onwe as interim successor is constitutional.

The party made this known in a statement issued from the office of its National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, on Tuesday in Abuja.

The statement noted that recent media reports had created the impression that the change was occasioned by the personal desire of Tukur to remove Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola from the position.

“The NWC wants to make it clear that what happened was nothing more than obedience to a court judgment and the consequential application of the relevant sections of the party’s constitution under the circumstance.

“Section 45 of the party`s constitution states that if a National Officer of the party is removed or resigns from office, he shall immediately hand over to the National Secretary all records, files and other properties of the party in his or her possession. In the case of the National Secretary, he shall hand over to the Deputy National Secretary,’’ the statement said.

It further said that given the judgment of the Federal High Court a situation was created for the invocation of Section 45 of the party’s constitution.

It stressed that the matter had “nothing to do with any imagined rift between the party`s national chairman and Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola’’.

It added that there was no personal rift between Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, as the National Chairman of the party and Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola to warrant sensational headlines in some newspapers.

“In any event, reports have indicated that Oyinlola has appealed against the court judgment. The NWC wants to say that as soon as the appeal is decided, the party will, in the same way as it did in the case of the Federal High Court ruling, obey the appeal decision.’’

It added that the PDP was a law abiding party, which based its conduct and activities on internal democracy and the rule of law.

The statement stressed that the PDP would not hesitate in obeying and implementing the judgment of any court of competent jurisdiction on matters involving the party.

Onwe, the deputy national secretary, was appointed on Monday by the party’s leadership as its acting National Secretary.

Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola’s election as secretary was annulled last week by a Federal High Court in Abuja, which ruled that his election did not follow due process.