Chairmanship Tussle: Court Reserves Judgment In Gulak’s Suit Against PDP, Secondus

An Abuja High Court on Monday reserved judgment in a case filed by Mr Ahmed Gulak seeking to compel the National Working Committee of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to fill its chairmanship position.

 

Justice Hussein Baba-Yusuf reserved the judgment after conclusion of arguments by counsel to the parties in the suit.

 

The judge said the Registrar of the court will communicate the date he will deliver the judgment to the parties to the suit.

 

Gulak, former Political Adviser to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, sued the PDP over “deliberate delay to conduct election to the party’s substantive chairmanship position.’’

 

Specifically, he said Mr Uche Secondus, Acting National Chairman of PDP, failed to initiate the process of filling the position of the party’s chairman.

 

Gulak said following the resignation of the former National Chairman of PDP, Adamu Muazu (from North-East Zone), the party was under mandate to get a replacement from the same zone.

 

The plaintiff, who claimed he had indicated interest to contest the position, asked the court to compel the Secondus- led leadership of the party to commence the process for the election.

 

At the resumed hearing of the case on Monday, Gulak’s lawyer, Mr Jibrin Okutepa (SAN), argued that “by zoning formula, the North-East is yet to conclude its tenure as chairman of the party’’.

 

He said the zoning system was reflected in Section 223 sub sections 1(b) of the 1999 Constitution as amended and in Article 47(6) of the party’s Constitution.

 

He also argued that the plaintiff was the only candidate from the North-East that had indicated interest in the position.

 

Okutepa, therefore, prayed the court to grant the reliefs sought by the plaintiff.

 

Counsel for the defendants, Mr Isaiah Powl, however, asked the court to dismiss the case for lack of locus standi by the plaintiff.

 

Powl argued that Gulak has no ‘locus’ to institute the suit because he was not a financial member of the party having failed to pay the mandatory requisite dues within certain period.

 

The lawyer also urged the court to dismiss the suit because the plaintiff failed to explore the internal mechanism for resolving disputes before rushing to the court.

 

He said contrary to the plaintiff’s position, five other candidates from the North-East had indicated interest in the national chairmanship position of the party.

 

Citing Article 45 sub 2 of PDP constitution, he stated that when the chairman resigned, the deputy should take over pending when election is conducted to pick new chairman.

 

Powl said that process was on going and the case of the plaintiff was, therefore, premature.

 

 

(NAN)

Fayose, Ciroma Give Reasons For Shunning PDP National Conference

Giving reason for his absence at the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Conference which held yesterday, November 12 in Abuja, Governor Fayose of Ekiti State said he was observing three days of fasting and prayers ahead of his 55th birthday this weekend and so he excused himself from the conference.

 

Speaking with newsmen at his Afao Ekiti country home, shortly after he was conferred with the title of ‘Leader of opposition in the country’ by the state House of Assembly, he said he needed time to be with God and must abstain from all distractions.

 

“Some of my commissioners were there and the chairman of my party wass also there. I may not be there physically but I am with them morally and I supported them financially,” he added.

 

The opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) held its national conference yesterday, November 12 in Abuja and a number of the party’s chieftains were absent.

 

The conference was part of efforts being made by the party to re-brand and preposition ahead of the 2019 general elections, Daily Trust reports.

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Those who were absent include; former President Goodluck Jonathan, his deputy Namadi Sambo, erstwhile national chairman of the party Adamu Mu’azu, former Senate President David Mark, a PDP founding member Alhaji Adamu Ciroma, Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose, among others.

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On his part, Ciroma who was listed among the dignitaries to grace the conference said he was not informed of the meeting early.

 

He said: “I saw the advertisement in the paper and television. It was only yesterday (Wednesday) that some people came to formally invite me and I turned down the invitation because they didn’t do it before the advertisement. They should consult me before making any advertisement.”

 

 

Governors who failed to attend the conference included: Seriake Dickson (Bayelsa), Ben Ayade (Cross River), Dave Umahi (Ebonyi), Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu), Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia) and Nyesom Wike (Rivers).

 

Chief Alex Ekwueme, former Board of Trustees (BOT) chairman, Chief Tony Anenih and former Niger State governor, Babangida Aliyu were also absent.

 

Those present were; governors Darius Ishaku (Taraba), Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo (Gombe), Idris Wada (Kogi), Ifeanyi Okowa (Delta), Udom Emmanuel (Akwa Ibom) and Olusegun Mimiko (Ondo).

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Former governors Gabriel Suswam (Benue), Sule Lamido (Jigawa) and Senate minority leader Godswill Akpabio, were also present.

 

Earlier, Ibrahim Babangida, a former military president turned down an invitation by the PDP for the re-branding conference. His reason being that he had quit partisan politics, adding that he would continue to offer his wise counsel to all politicians towards building a better Nigeria.

 

Speaking at the conference, Ike Ekweremadu, the deputy president of the Senate, who was the chairman of the conference expressed concern that so far no campaign promise made by the present APC administration has been kept.

 

Source:: naij.com

PDP zones 2019 presidential ticket to North

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Working Committee (NWC) said on Wednesday in Abuja that it would zone the party’s 2019 presidential ticket to the northern part of the country.

The PDP acting National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, said this while receiving the report of the party’s Post Election Review Committee led by the Senate Deputy President, Sen. Ike Ekweremadu.

Secondus said that the decision was important based on the zoning principle of the party and following the recommendation of the committee.

“The NWC had agreed that for us to move this party forward, we must obey our constitution; we must follow our rule and the principle of zoning, which is very important.

“Therefore, we agree with the committee absolutely that the presidential candidate of our party in 2019 will come from the North,’’ Secondus said.

Secondus promised that the NWC would implement the recommendations of the committee’s report to the latter, without any fear, for the survival of the party.

“The NWC will commence the implementation of this report by passing it through all consultative and decision making organs of the party up to the National Executive Committee (NEC) and the National Convention Committee.

“Equally, you can be assured that those of us in the NWC will put in place machinery to review and implement recommendations that are very urgent,’’ he said.

Earlier, Sen. Ekweremadu, while submitting the committee’s report said one of their recommendations was that the party should strictly apply the zoning principle at all levels.

He said that since the last President of PDP extraction came from the Southern part of Nigeria, it would be wise for the 2019 presidential candidate to emerge from the North.

Ekweremadu, who was the chairman of the committee, said: “this is in accordance with the popular views expressed in the submissions made to the Committee.

“This will also assuage any ill feelings in the North over any perceived breach of the Party’s zoning principle.’’

He recommended that the PDP should henceforth be “self-funding, relying on membership registrations and enforcement of dues and levies as its primary sources of income at all levels in line with the party’s Constitution.

“This is with a view to ending the prevailing situation where those who pay the piper dictate the tune.

“We have also recommended that the role of party leader, which has no basis in the constitution of the PDP, should henceforth be discontinued at all levels.

“This is to strengthen the structure of the party at all levels.’’

Ekweremadu further recommended that the Party should adopt the direct primary method as the sole means of electing its candidates for any election at all levels.

“The use of delegates has been grossly compromised and abused and should therefore be discontinued forthwith to return true ownership of the party to the people,’’ Ekeremadu said.

He proposed a nationwide bio-metric membership registration to align PDP records with modern technology.

The PDP Post-Election Review committee was inaugurated on May 5, in the wake of the party’s performance in the last general elections.

The committee was handed a nine-point terms of reference, the sum of which was to find out what went wrong and to chart a trajectory for the restoration of the fortunes of the party.

(NAN)

PDP members kick against N1000 e-registration levy

Efforts by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to mop up its aggrieved and disgruntled members across the country through the newly introduced electronic registration of members with a view to repositioning the party, suffered a great set back on Wednesday, following the outright rejection of the N1000 registration levy imposed on each member.

 

The pilot phase of the e-registration exercise scheduled to commence in Edo State on Wednesday, failed to take off, as some of the party members protested the proposed N1000 registration fee.

 

It would be recalled that the ?National Publicity Secretary of the party, Olisa Metuh, had on 23 August, announced that the party’s National Working Committee, NWC, had approved the resuscitation of the online registration of its member, using Edo state as pilot for the project.

 

According to the party’s NWC, the project which is to be handled by the PDP’s e-Membership Registration Committee, headed by Mr. Raymond Dokpesi, was aimed at returning ownership of the party to its members and strengthening the various structures of the party.

 

At a meeting held at the Edo state secretariat located along Sapele Road, Dokpesi explained that the e-membership registration cards to be issued to the party members would capture their bio-metric information, including bank details.

 

He also disclosed that a total of 250 machines had been deployed for the exercise in Edo North Senatorial District where the project was to kick off, to ensure that the PDP registered as many members as were willing to join its fold, adding that, the party would engage the services of the local government and ward chairmen to make the project effective.

 

“In the far north of Weppa-Wanno, I think we have been sensitising the people and, as of today, all the women that are on the register have been so sensitised and have actually been paying into Skye Bank for this e-registration. It’s N1,000.

 

“If you like you, you can pay the N1,000 by your debit card. If you like, you can do it by transfer from whichever bank that is based in Nigeria, details of which will be provided,” Dokpesi announced.

 

The announcement was however greeted with murmuring among the party members present at the meeting, expressing their unwillingness to pay for the registration.

 

One of the party members in Oredo Local Government Area who preferred anonymity, described the fee as expensive, adding that, bulk of the party supporters reside in the rural areas.

 

“That fee is too much for many of us. I do not expect a market woman or farmer, who earns little, to pay that amount just to be a member,” he added.

 

The acting National Chairman of the party, Uche Secondus, however told journalists at the end of the meeting that the party would work out details of the procedures for the exercise, noting that, the party had resolved to carry out a digital reform in order to re-position it as a national political party.

 

“The most important thing is that everybody has accepted, they have agreed that we must migrate from analogue to digital. In digital, we are able to access everybody. And the people at the local level, through their handsets?, can access us on two-way interaction and this is the way the world is today.

 

“INEC has been reformed, the political parties must be reformed, our party must be reformed. We must comply digitally and that is why we are here to interact with our members.

 

“The party will now belong to all. As long as you register, you are a member of the party and you have equal rights,” Secondus said.

 

-PM News