National Secretary of the party, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola

Justice Mohammed Idris of the Federal High Court in Lagos has thwarted efforts by a faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun State to move an ex-parte injunction against some national officers of the party. 

The Adebayo Dayo-led faction of the PDP in Ogun State had filed a motion on notice to commit the PDP and its national officers to prison for contempt. The applicants included Semio Sodipo. 

They had also filed an ex-parte motion seeking certain injunctions against the PDP officers as well as the Inspector General of Police and the Director General of the State Security Service (SSS).

According to the suit with reference number FHC/L/CS/347/2012, the applicants had also claimed to have filed the suit on behalf of themselves and the Executive Committee of the PDP in Ogun State.
Lawyer to the applicants, Ajibola Oluyede, had urged Justice Idris to grant the ex-parte motion, but his request met with brick wall, as the judge insisted that he would not grant any order ex-parte.

The judge said: “I have studied the whole file. There is absolutely no need for me to grant any injunction at this stage. Let the alleged contemnors be put on notice. I’m prepared to hear the case and decide it once and for all,” Idris stressed.

Oluyede had cited plethora of authorities to back his position on the need for the judge to grant temporary injunction pending the hearing of the main case, but Justice Idris insisted that there was no need granting an injunction, which may never be obeyed, adding that such would only render the order of court useless.

Also, attempts by Oluyede to convince the judge to grant an order directing the police and DSS to provide special security for his clients were rejected by the judge, who stated that such application ought to be directed to the office of the security agencies concerned and not the court. 

Justice Idris, however, granted a request by Oluyede seeking for subsisted service of the processes on the alleged contemnors, as well as service of the processes out of jurisdiction.

The court also fixed August 8 for hearing.

Apart from the PDP, those cited as alleged contemnors in the suit are the National Secretary of the party, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola; Deputy National Chairman, Dr. Sam Jaja; National Auditor, Bode Mustapha; Olisah Metuh, Ireti Oniyide, Tunde Oladunjoye, Fasiu Bakenne, Dave Salako and Lekan Mustapha.

In the motion on notice, the applicants (Dayo and Sodipo) want the court to commit Oyinlola, Bode Mustapha, Jaja and Metuh to one year imprisonment for disobeying a valid judgment of the Federal High Court made on May 2, 2012.

The applicants stated that the continued refusal of the alleged contemnors to accept and recognise them as the validly elected officers of the PDP in Ogun State for four years tenure guaranteed by the party’s Constitution amounted to a flagrant disobedience of the court judgment.