Breaking: In Split Decision, Supreme Court Affirms Judgment Nullifying PDP Convention Held in Ibadan

Alex Enumah in Abuja

The Supreme Court in a split judgment of three to two, on Thursday, affirmed the judgment of the Court of Appeal, which nullified the convention of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The majority judgment predicated its judgment on the grounds that the convention was held in blatant disobedience of a valid court order.

Justice Stephen Adah, who delivered the majority judgment, pointed out that judgment of courts must be obeyed, until they are set aside, adding that the failure of the PDP to obey the judgment of the Federal High Court, which directed it to halt the planned convention until it has made available nomination forms to the plaintiff, was fatal to its case.

It is the position of the apex court that an appellant who is in disobedience of a court order cannot be heard by the court.

The majority judgment subsequently dismissed the appeal and went ahead to void the November 15 and 16, National Convention, which produced the Tanimu Turaki-led leadership of the PDP.

However, in the majority judgment delivered by Justice Haruna Tsammani, the apex held that the case before the trial court was strictly an internal matter of the PDP, which the court lacked jurisdiction to entertain.

Tsammani, who agreed with the majority judgment that it was wrong of the appellant to have disobeyed the judgment of the trial court, stated that the action was not enough ground to dismiss the appeal, which the trial court ought not to have entertained in the first instance.

Besides, Tsammani faulted his colleagues for raising the issue of disobedience on its own, when none of the party raised it.

He recalled that the apex court in several decisions had warned against raising issues not canvassed by any party, adding that the appellant was not giving the opportunity to defend itself over the alleged disobedience.

He accordingly allowed the appeal, stressed that the Federal High Court lacked the necessary jurisdiction to entertain the suit in the first place.

“Since, the trail court lacks jurisdiction to entertain the matter,the suit is accordingly struck out”, Tsammani held.

Details later.