Court Vacates Order Stopping PDP’s Convention AN Abuja High Court Friday vacated its order barring the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from conducting its planned special convention to elect fresh hands into its National Working Committee (NWC). By this action, the coast is now clear for the said convention. Justice Suleiman Belgore vacated the order after the three aggrieved PDP members - Abba Yale, Yahaya Sule and Bashir Maigudu applied to withdraw the suit they filed challenging the composition of the party’s NWC. The court had on July 25, this year restrained the PDP from conducting any form of convention “whether special or ordinary,” for the purpose of electing any officer into its offices, pending the determination of the suit by the aggrieved members. Arguing the application for withdrawal, the plaintiffs’ lawyer, Friday Nwosu, submitted that his clients had elected to explore the party’s internal mechanism in addressing their grievances. He noted that being loyal party men, who wished to remain in the party, the plaintiffs had resolved to withdraw their case and table their grievances before the party’s National Reconciliation Committee, headed by Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson. Nwosu urged the court to strike out the plaintiffs’case. Counsel to the defendants (PDP and its National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur), Tobechukwu Nweke and Raphael Oluyede, respectively, did not object to the plaintiffs’ decision to withdraw their case. But they urged the court to dismiss the case, rather than strike it out. In his ruling, Justice Belgore said he was satisfied with the application for withdrawal and all the necessary accompanying documents filed by the plaintiffs. He held that the application, having been brought under Order 27 Rule 3 of the court’s Civil Procedure Rules 2004, the court was left with no option than to allow the withdrawal. Justice Belgore, however struck out the case, but did not dismiss it, on the ground that no major steps had been taken in respect of the substantive suit. “The suit is struck out. The earlier order restraining the defendants from holding any convention is vacated. That order is now discharged, as it crumbles with the striking out of the suit,” the Judge held. He, however, frowned at Nwosu’s decision to petition the court’s Chief Judge, complaining of experiencing difficulty in withdrawing the case. The Judge said it was wrong for Nwosu to have written such petition even before his withdrawal application was brought before the court.
Posted on: Sat, 03 Aug 2013 17:59:58 +0000
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