Chairman, Caretaker Committee, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ahmed Makarfi (right); Committee Secretary, Senator Ben Obi and others after the ruling of the Supreme Court on the leadership tussle of the party in Abuja …yesterday. PHOTO LUCY: LADIDI ELUKPO.
• Judges declare Makarfi authentic chair, upturn appeal court judgment
• It’s victory for democracy, say party chiefs Obi, Ihedioha, Metuh
The Supreme Court yesterday ended a 14-month leadership squabble within the country’s main opposition — the Peoples Democratic Party — and gave it a new lease of life ahead of an important general election in 2019.
Senator Ahmed Makarfi, the former governor of Kaduna State and his counterpart from Borno, Senator Alli-Modu Sheriff, have been locked in a protracted legal battle for the soul of the party, forcing the main opposition to lose critical elections, including governorship seats in Edo and Ondo states and legislative seats in many others.
Across the country, the opposition party has been grappling with a loss of membership to President Muhammadu Buhari’s All Progressives Congress (APC) after it suffered an embarrassing defeat in the 2015 presidential election under the leadership of former President Goodluck Jonathan and had to face the ruling party’s crackdown on corruption. The campaign trains of selected PDP candidates in the affected states lost steam as rival candidates arose within the party to challenge the credibility of the faction that nominated them for the election. In many of the instances, as was the case in Ondo, the litigations were resolved few days to the election, giving candidates in rival political parties a better chance of winning the elections.
The unanimous decision of the apex court read by Justice Bode Rhodes Vivour yesterday declared Markafi the authentic chairman of the PDP and upturned the judgment given earlier by the Court of Appeal in Port Harcourt, which declared Alhaji Sheriff chairman of the party.
Comments trailing the judgment agreed that it could put the PDP on a ‘recovery mode’ and restore many of the party’s prodigal members, especially as the ruling APC has its own share of internal challenges.
They remarked that Nigeria was heading towards a one-party state and the apex court judgment would rally the opposition once again and save the country’s democracy.
Former Governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi, described it as “the work of God” who used the Supreme Court to heal the wounds of the PDP family. He noted that the judgment would usher in an effective opposition that would contribute meaningfully to governance and bring the country out of the current recession, as well as contain various agitations.
Calling for unity among party members, former Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Mr. Olisa Metuh appealed to members who defected to the APC prior to the 2015 general elections to return and help rebuild the party. Metuh called on members to discountenance mistakes of the past and build “a new PDP” around the former President, Jonathan.
“This is a victory for and triumph of democracy,’ says former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Chief Emeka Ihedioha, in a text message to The Guardian. “It is a celebration of the enthronement of light over forces of darkness. Long live Nigeria,” he said.
The judgment of the three-man panel held that Makarfi’s appeal has merit and was subsequently upheld. The panel also awarded a cost of N250,000 against the first respondent, Sheriff. The court in the judgment, held that the national convention of the party held on May 21, 2016, was validly convened and in line with the PDP constitution. It also agreed with the appellant that the national convention is the supreme organ of the party, which controls every other organ. The justices unanimously held that the national convention was in order, when it set up a caretaker committee, having dissolved the national executive committee. The apex court also held that the dissolution of the National Executive Committee at the convention was in order, since the national deputy chairman, who presided has the constitutional backing to act in the capacity he did. “Was the caretaker committee properly constituted?” the court asked. It went on to respond that going by the party’s constitution, it was properly constituted.
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