Federal court dismisses suit by Aminu Wali led PDP faction over congresses

From Desmond Mgboh, Kano

A Federal High Court sitting in Kano Division has dismissed a suit filed by a faction of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) led by Ambassador Aminu Wali.

The faction had gone to court to seek the nullification of the ward, local government and state congresses of the party held in February/March this year.

Delivering his judgement Wednesday, the presiding judge, Justice Lewis Alagwua, upheld the prayers of the party to the effect that the suit was out of time and cannot be tried at this time.

The judge also agreed with the party that the matter was an internal affair of and the petitioners did not exhaust the internal mechanism of the party before approaching the court to enforce their fundamental right and grant their prayers

The faction had on June 1 approached the court asking it to nullify the congresses on the grounds that they were excluded from the exercise, deposing that the congresses did not comply with the provisions of the party’s constitution.

Speaking to Daily Sun, the counsel to the PDP in the State, Barrister Bashir Yusuf, explained that one of the implications of the new judgement is that there is no faction within the PDP in the State.

He added that anybody who parades himself as a faction of the PDP in the State and would not work within the structure of the seven-member Caretaker Committee established by the National Working Committee to run the affairs of the party in the State is engaged in act of illegality.