COURT APPEAL JUDGMENT: PLATEAU PDP EXCO READS RIOT ACT TO MEMBERS

By NBF News

Following the ruling of the Court of Appeal giving recognition to the executive council of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Plateau State, the party has read out the riot act to those in the other camp to fall in line and avoid any act that will polarize party. However, the other faction of the party had said it had only lost the legal battle, adding that the political war had just started.

Chairman of the party in the state, Dr. Haruna Dabin had, at a press conference at the weekend, said as the party moves closer to the primary election, certain tendencies and practices which were observed at the time of the crisis must now be addressed and therefore urged all those who were holding party's membership cards illegally to return them to the appropriate authorities at the ward, local government and state levels within one week.

This announcement was coming against the backdrop that the cards had been made available to the caretaker committee by the national headquarters of the party, which had in turn distributed same to the party's members in the various levels; most of whom were in the other faction of the party formerly led by Chief Emmanuel Mangni. Dr. Dabin also reminded those who had renounced their membership of the PDP that they could only be readmitted into the party by re-registering at the ward level and their application processed through the local government executive council to the state exco in accordance with article 10c of the party's constitution.

He reminded party members that those members who were returning to the party had lost their seniority and privileges conferred on them by previous seniority; stressing that the party leadership in the state would enforce these provisions of the constitution to the latter. He said any member of the party who had not spent the required two years in the party and wants to seek elective position should apply for a waiver through the appropriate lower level of the party to the state office before being forwarded to the national executive committee for rectification.

Speaking for the other members of the faction, who had given recognition to the caretaker committee, Chief of Staff to former governor, Joshua Dariye, Nde Alexander Molwus, said even though they lost the legal battle, the political war had just started, adding that they would respect the rule of the game and forge ahead as democrats.

He said: 'Plateau is a collective interest. We must continue the political struggle until all forms of man's inequality to man is eliminated and to assert that state resources is a collective whole for Plateau people. We will also resist all forms of inequality in human and material development of the state based on ethnic sentiments. We must also resist all forms of sycophancy.