A High Court of the Federal Capital
Territory in Abuja on Tuesday ordered the Acting National Chairman of
the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Uche Secondus, to leave the office
and revert to his original position as the party’s Deputy National
Chairman.
Justice Yusuf Baba, who made the order
in its judgment in the suit filed by a former Special Adviser to former
President Goodluck Jonathan on Political Matters, Ahmed Gulak, held that
Secondus was occupying the position of the Acting National Chairman of
the PDP in gross violation of the party’s constitution..
The judge held that the position of the
Acting National Chairman of the party should have been held by its
eligible member from the North-East geopolitical zone in line with the
zoning arrangement of the party recognised by its constitution.
He ordered Secondus to vacate the office
within 14 days and directed that any qualified member of the party from
the North-East should assume the position of the Acting National
Chairman of the party.
At the hearing of the case on November
30, Gulak had through his lawyer, Mr. Jibrin Okutepa, anchored his
prayers on the grounds that by the provision of the PDP constitution and
its zoning principle, he was supposed to step in as the chairman of the
party following the resignation of Adamu Mu’azu, who hailed from the
North-East.
Parties to the suit had argued the
plaintiff’s substantive suit and the preliminary objection filed by the
defendants , the PDP and Secondus.
The judge on Tuesday dismissed the preliminary objection as he upheld Gulak’s lawyer’s argument.
Gulak had said in its suit that as a
registered member of the party from Madagali Local Government Area of
Adamawa State, North-East geopolitical zone, he was qualified for the
position.
He stated that Secondus who was elected
the Deputy National Chairman of the party from Rivers State and who upon
the voluntary resignation of the former National Chairman of the party,
Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, on May 29, 2015, assumed the position of acting
national chairman of the party, had continued to run the affairs of the
party in gross violation of its constitution.
He averred that by Article 35 of the PDP
constitution, it was the duty of Secondus to ensure that the provisions
of the party’s constitution “is respected by summoning and presiding
over the meeting of the National Executive Committee which then shall
appoint a person from the zone where the former national chairman hails
from to become the substantive national chairman.”
Gulak contended that by the zoning
arrangement of the party, since Mu’azu did not complete his tenure, the
next national chairman ought to have come from the North-East.
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