A federal high court in Abuja has granted an application filed by the Ali<\/p>\n
Modu Sheriff faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to stop the
\nconvention scheduled to be organised on August 19 by the Ahmed Makarfi
\ncaretaker committee.<\/p>\n
The plaintiffs are Sheriff; Wale Oladapo, national secretary; Dennis
\nAlonge-Niyi, deputy national youth leader; Bashir Maidugu, deputy national
\nlegal adviser; Hanatu Ulam, deputy national women leader; Lawal Dutsima,
\nAnchi deputy national auditor; Okey Nnadozie, deputy national organising
\nsecretary and Olisa Metuh, national publicity secretary.<\/p>\n
Ferdinand Obi, counsel to the Ahmed Makarfi faction of party, challenged
\nthe court that it did not have jurisdiction to hear the motion seeking to
\nstop the convention from holding. He further sought to disqualify Okon
\nAbang, the judge.<\/p>\n
He argued that Bashir Maidugu, the erstwhile deputy national legal adviser
\nof the PDP, could not be plaintiff and a second defendant in the same
\nsuit.<\/p>\n
Obi also told the court that a federal high court in Port Harcourt
\nrecognises him as the counsel representing the PDP.<\/p>\n
He urged the court to recognise his appearance for the PDP based on a
\njudgement by a high court in Port Harcourt.<\/p>\n
In opposition to Obi\u2019s submission, Akintola counsel to the Ali Modu
\nSheriff faction referred the court to a ruling of June 30, which
\nrecognised him as the lawyer representing the PDP.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn one breath, he wants your lordship disqualified from the proceedings
\nand in another breath he is challenging the jurisdiction,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
According to him, the motion to disqualify the judge did not exist as they
\nhave only been served with the application to disqualify the court.<\/p>\n
Falokun, counsel to the plaintiffs explained that the judgement from the
\nPort Harcourt cannot override a judgement that has already recognised him
\nas the representative of the PDP.<\/p>\n
In his ruling, Abang held that the caretaker committee was \u201cillegal\u201d based
\non the the Ikeja division of the federal high court and cannot take
\ndecisions on behalf of the PDP.<\/p>\n
While dismissing Ferdinand\u2019s applications, he said the counsel to Makarfi
\nwould not be recognised as a representation of the PDP.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A federal high court in Abuja has granted an application filed by the Ali Modu Sheriff faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to stop the convention scheduled to be…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51674,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n