Court Didn't Sack Tukur, Others - PDP

By The Rainbow

The leadership of the Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday said that an Abuja High Court order to the party to halt its forthcoming convention did not affect the office of its national chairman and the acting national officers.

The party's national publicity secretary, Tony Cesar Okeke, in a statement on the court ruling, said their lawyers are studying the court ruling and will advise the PDP leadership on the next course of action.

On Thursday, the court ordered the ruling party to halt its August 31st special national convention pending the determination of the suit brought before it, which challenged the mode of election of some national officers in the 2012 national convention.

The suit was sequel to an Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) report which faulted the process of the election of the national officers at the 2012 convention, which led to the affected national officers resigning their positions at the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the PDP in June 2013.

However, the PDP said, 'since the ruling by the court, there have been several interpretations regarding the implication of the judicial pronouncement on the status of the National Working Committee (NWC) of our party as presently constituted under the chairmanship of Dr.BamangaTukur.

'For the avoidance of doubt, the ruling of the court is clear. The court pointedly ruled that the PDP refrains from proceeding with the conduct or convocation of the special national convention pending the determination of the suit filed by the aggrieved members.

'It is instructive to note that in its wisdom and in line with the principle of justice, the court turned down the prayer by the plaintiffs for an interlocutory injunction nullifying the appointment of acting members of NWC. The court also threw out the prayer requesting it to restrain Tukur from performing his roles in the NWC until the determination of the suit.

'We assure our members that the leadership of the party and the functions of the NWC are in no way affected by the ruling. The ruling did not in any way affect the office of the national chairman or those of the acting national officers of our great party.