PDP Suffers Setback As Abuja Court Adjourns Convention Suit To Sept 23

An attempt by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to set aside last
Thursday's order by an Abuja High Court, restraining the ruling party
from organizing its special national convention on August 31, suffered
a setback on Monday.
The court had stopped the convention following a suit filed by three
members of the party, Abba Yale, Yahaya Sule and Bashir Maidugu. At
theresumed hearing of the suit, two counsels, Jubril Okutepa, a Senior
Advocate of Nigeria, and F.N Nwosu, announced their appearance for the
plaintiffs, a development that shocked the judge, Justice Suleman
Belgore. Mr.Nwosu based his claim on a letter said to have been
written and signed by the plaintiffs.
Following the confusion, counsel to the PDP, Onyechi Ikpeazu, a Senior
Advocate of Nigeria, made an oral application for the discharge of the
July 25 restraining order against the planned convention of the party,
but the judge rejected it.
"It will be inequitable to discharge the restraining order, based on
numerous applications before this court," Mr. Belgore said. However,
Mr. Okutepa maintained that he had not been debriefed by the
plaintiffs even as Mr. Nwosu stuck to his guns, claiming to have been
briefed over the weekend. Mr. Belgore eventually stood down thematter
for 30 minutes to enable the lawyers claiming to be appearing for the
plaintiffs, sort themselves out. Messrs Okutepa and Nwosu who
addressed the court, upon resumption said that they were not able to
agree on the issue.
This forced the court to adjourn for another 30 minutes to enable the
judge deliver a ruling on the embarrassing development. Upon his
return, Mr. Belgore expressed"sadness" over the appearance
disagreement, adding that "it is certainly a trying moment for the
legalprofession." "This thing that has happened would certainly
reverberateoutside the walls of the court." "I'm very sad at this. The
legal profession is at a crossroads and my advice to you is that we
should leave politicians to play their politics," he said.
The judge consequently adjourned thematter to September 23. Confusion
on reconciliation Earlier, a statement allegedly signed by the three
aggrieved members of the PDP was released to journalists with the
members stating their intention to withdraw the suit. Messrs Yale,
Sule and Maidugu reportedly signed the statement after meeting with
the party's recently inaugurated committee headed by the Bayelsa State
Governor, Seriake Dickson.
The statement said, "At the behest of the newly constituted National
Reconciliation Committee of our great party, the Peoples Democratic
party, we have the pleasure to announce the discontinuance of the law
suit we instituted in pursuance of justice, equity and fair play. "In
furtherance of this therefore, we hereby totally submit our grievances
to the Committee with a view to amicably addressing them as family
members ofthe Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.Consequently, we undertake
to fully support and cooperate with the National Reconciliation
Committee and the National Special Convention Committee and other all
agencies of the PDP towards the organisation of a successful
convention of the party." The statement also advised all aggrieved
members of the party as well as those that had left it due to
disagreements to utilize the opportunity presented by the Committee to
address their grievances.
"We also advise all aggrieved party members and those that left the
party as a result of certain disagreements to utilize the opportunity
presented by the National Reconciliation Committeeof the party so that
their grievances could be addressed. We thank all thosethat made this
impending peace a possibility," it states.
We could not reach any of the three plaintiffs to confirm the
authenticity of the statement which was given to journalists at the
PDP national secretariat in Abuja on Monday evening. However, Francis
Agbo, the media aide to Mr. Dickson confirmed that the reconciliation
committee met with the plaintiffs last weekend.
It is not clear if the plaintiffs hired a new lawyer, Mr. Nwosu, to
replace Mr. Okutepa after the peace meeting; or whether they truly
intend to withdrawthe suit. The adjournment by the judge, however,
means the ruling party cannot hold and indeed fix a newdate for its
planned convention to elect new members of the National Working
Committee earlier than September 23.