The Kawu Baraje-led faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has asked Indepenent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to de-register the Bamanga Tukur-led faction of the party. Baraje said Tukur’s PDP failed to comply with Section 222(D) of the Nigerian Constitution, which requires a political party to notify the electoral umpire about an alteration in its constitution. Section 222 (d) states; ” Any alteration in its (a party’s) registered constitution is also registered in the principal office of the Independent National Electoral Commission within thirty days of the making of such alteration.” It maintained that Tukur is not a bona fide member of the party having been expelled by its National Executive Committee (NEC) in 2001. Baraje’s faction held that Tukur has yet to be properly re-admitted into the party let alone be its national chairman. In its statement of claim obtained by Pointblanknews, the Baraje faction reminded the High Court of Lagos State that it was the 2009 PDP constitution that midwifed the party’s amended 2012 constitution. “Evidence has surfaced to prove that strange clauses which were not part of the proposed amended were inserted into the original produced version of the 2012 constitution and those alterations were not approved by the party convention and the National Executive Committee thereby making the document a forged document which is invalid,” the faction told the court. “The forged 2012 constitution was not equally filled before INEC as required by the constitution, thereby making the PDP constitution upon which the 2013 convention was held an invalid document and the outcome of that convention invalid, as it was held without a valid constitution,” they claimed. “The proof of these evidence can be seen in the approved memo by the PDP NEC upon which the amendment was done in the 2012 and the original version of the PDP constitution filled with INEC will as well prove these violations.” Justifying the impropriety of Tukur presiding over the party’s national convention, the faction drew the court’s attention to Tukur’s expulsion in 2001. “Exactly on the 31 May, 2001,” said the statement, the PDP NEC after its meeting held in Abuja expelled eight members of the PDP in accordance with the PDP constitution which gives the NEC the powers to discipline NEC members who breaches the constitution.” The statement explained that “they were expelled after NEC considered and adopted the report of the Iro Dan Musa-led PDP Disciplinary Committee.” The eight expelled members, recalled the statement, included Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, Don Etiebet, Asheik Jarma, Ume-Ezeoke, Emmanuel Ibeshi, (late) Harry Marshal and Gbenga Olawepo. “Note that Article 10(b) iii of the PDP 2009 constitution and Article 8(17) of the 2012 amended constitution which holds that any member of the party who loses his membership by expulsion can only return to the party with the approval of the party executive at his ward, state and national levels, who shall give him a waiver,” narrated Baraje’s faction. “Since the expulsion of Bamanga Tukur in 2001, he has not complied with the above requirement of the PDP constitution, meaning that his purported participation at the 2012 convention where he was elected was a fraud and invalid, as he is not yet a member of the party,” they held.
Posted on: Wed, 04 Sep 2013 04:04:48 +0000
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