The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Uche Secondus, has reportedly disowned April 10, 2021, proposed for the zonal congress of the party in the Southwest.
It was gathered that the National Working Committee (NWC) of the PDP had earlier been divided over the South-West Zonal Congress reportedly fixed to hold in Ibadan on April 10, 2021.
It was learnt that the National Organising Secretary, Colonel Austin Akobundu, National Financial Secretary, Abdullahi Maibasira and three others had insisted that the party must conduct the congress on April 10, 2021, in disobedience to a court order that stops the party from conducting it pending the determination of a suit contesting the venue of the Congress.
Sources at the PDP national headquarters in Abuja told the news medium that Governor Makinde and his loyalists with the support of the party’s organising secretary are behind April 10, 2021, allegedly fixed for the zonal congress.
A party source disclosed to the Vanguard Newspaper that NWC meeting was held on Tuesday, where the issue of the outstanding congresses was discussed. However, the meeting, which was presided over by the Deputy National Chairman (North) Senator Suleiman Nazif, did not conclude on the congresses as it was opined that members of the NWC should consult their constituencies.
According to the Vanguard, a party source who confirmed the development said when the National Legal Adviser heard of the plot to conduct the congress, he issued a legal opinion, warning on the consequences of disobeying a court order.
The National Legal Adviser gave his opinion, warning on the consequences of disobeying a subsisting court order. He said it will be contemptuous for the party to take any action against the order of the court, stressing further that PDP as a party that is championing respect for the rule of law, must not be seen as disobeying the order of the court.
But the National Organising Secretary still insisted that the congress must hold, saying that five out of the 12 members of the South-West Zonal Caretaker Committee who filed the suit already withdrawn from it.
During the deliberation, the National Legal Adviser insisted that it was not the business of the NWC to be rationalizing a matter that is pending before the law court on which an order had been granted and it is still subsisting. He pointed out that whether or not, any of those who filed the suit pulls out, it will still not affect the potency of the court order, since other parties did not withdraw.
However, when the National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus who is abroad, was called by one of the NWC members who had earlier excused himself from the meeting, he queried what the interest of the NWC was in rushing to conduct the congress in disobedience to a subsisting court.
He, therefore, overruled the decision to go ahead with the congress, noting that himself, the National Secretary and National Legal Adviser who are defendants in the suit will be the ones to face contempt charge should the order be disobeyed.
Source: Starnews Nigeria
