Court upholds Ekiti PDP ward congress

Justice Bamidele Omotosho of the Ekiti State High Court, Ado-Ekiti, on Friday upheld the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) congress held in 177 wards across the state on March 15.

The judge, who delivered the verdict in a suit filed on March 6 by Hon. Afolabi Ayodeji on behalf of elected ward executives, also nullified the new delegates’ list submitted by the PDP national leadership and dismissed other actions and decisions taken after the Congress.

The PDP, the party’s Acting National Chairman, Umar Damagun, the National Organising Secretary, Umar Bature, the Chairman of the party’s Caretaker Committee in Ekiti state, Dare Adeleke, and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) were listed as respondents in the suit.

Justice Omotosho said: “The Supreme Court held that it is an elementary principle that no suit based on a charlatan claim must be acted upon by the court.

“The High Court, in adherence to the above-cited principle of law, relying on the unchallenged disposition and the supporting affidavit to the originating process against the defendant, hereby makes the following orders:

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“That the claimant is the duly elected first defendant, chairman, and delegate of Ward 1, Ado-Ekiti Local Government, as shown in Exhibit 1, having regard to Paragraphs 1, 2(a), and 12 of the Conduct of Convention of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), 2024.

“I declare invalid, and it is hereby set aside, the purported list of delegates submitted by the defendants to the first, second, and third defendants, in contravention of Sections 2, 15(2)(3), and 49 of the Congress for election into all positions of the PDP, having regard to Sections 82 and 83 of the Electoral Act, 2022, and Section 40.2.2.3 and Item 15(c), Third Schedule of the Constitution of the PDP.

“The defendants, their privies and agents are hereby perpetually restrained from recognizing the purported list of delegates in contravention of the Constitution of the PDP, 2017 (as amended).

“Having regard to Sections 82 and 83 of the Electoral Act, 2022, Section 40, Section 223, and Item 15 of the Third Schedule of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), parties are advised to review the parts in this case to avoid sin and to refrain from resorting to self-help.

“No one shall undermine the authority of this order; Registrar’s Order: The restraining of the parties during the pendency of the suit, and the flagrant disobedience to the aforesaid order of this court about the election of congresses to the 177 wards, was in contempt. Such actions are hereby nullified, voided, and set aside by this Honourable Court”.

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