Things have fallen apart again for the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as a Federal High Court siting in Abuja Thursday nullified the national convention held by the party on May 21 in Port Harcourt.
Mr. Modu Sheriff, former governor of Borno State, has approached the court to dislodge the Ahmed Markafi-led faction of the party which was a few days ago recognized by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The recognition by INEC doused tension in the troubled party but only momentarily.
In his ruling Thursday, Justice Okon Abang said the May 21 convention was illegal and that Mr. Makarfi’s committee was unlawfully constituted.
Both Sheriff and Markafi sent two different lawyers to Justice Abang’s court on Thursday, both claiming to represent the national chairman of the party.
The court listened to the two lawyers – Ferdinand Obi and Adeniyi Akintola — to enable it to determine who should be the legal representative of the PDP in the matter.
Giving his ruling, Mr. Abang ruled that in determining who should be the rightful counsel to the PDP, it was necessary to decide whether the caretaker committee led by Mr. Makarfi was rightly constituted or not.
“The convention was unlawfully held and the caretaker committee was unlawfully constituted,” the judge ruled.
“If the Markarfi-led faction, as an apostle of impunity, missed its way to the Port Harcourt division of the FHC, the court cannot be said to have acted within its legal jurisdiction in entertaining the matter,” Mr. Abang said.
