PDP Interim National Working Committee Seeks INEC Recognition After Appeal Court Decision
…..The Court of Appeal has invalidated the recognition previously granted to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Caretaker Committee, dealing a major blow to the faction backed by the earlier judgment of the Federal High Court in Ibadan.
In a statement issued on Wednesday by the PDP Interim National Working Committee, the party said its lawyers informed it that the appellate court ruled that there were no longer any live issues in the appeal, following the Supreme Court’s nullification of the national convention at the centre of the dispute.
According to the statement signed by the National Publicity Secretary of the Interim National Working Committee, Comrade Ini Ememobong, the Court of Appeal held that the portion of the Federal High Court judgment recognising the Caretaker Committee “was not an issue before the court and therefore ought not to have been made in the first place.”
The court reportedly stated that the appropriate order would ordinarily have been a retrial, but noted that since the substantive issue had become academic, such retrial would serve no useful purpose.
The statement further disclosed that the Court of Appeal also affirmed the suspension of A.K. Ajibade and held that he lacked the authority to act on behalf of the party, a decision the PDP said extends to Sam Anyanwu and others aligned with him.
The Interim National Working Committee maintained that the appellate court judgment effectively nullifies the Federal High Court ruling which the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) relied upon in recognising the Caretaker Committee.
The party consequently called on INEC to immediately withdraw recognition from the Caretaker Committee and instead recognise the Interim National Working Committee led by Kabiru Tanimu Turaki, SAN.
The development marks another significant twist in the prolonged leadership crisis rocking the opposition party.
