Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja
The embattled former National Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prof. Wale Oladipo, has asked President Muhammadu Buhari and the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Mahmud Mohammed, to wade into the judicial altercation trailing the court actions instituted by the warring factions.
He said President Buhari should step in to save the judiciary from the “imminent danger of being infiltrated and controlled by politicians”.
He spoke against the backdrop of the many conflicting orders and judgments emanating from different divisions of the Federal High Court and the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) as they relate to the leadership crisis rocking the PDP.
In a statement he issued in Abuja on Sunday, Oladipo said it was worrisome that after parties have been served court processes and have joined issues, they rush to another court where they get pliable judges to grant them ex-parte orders and conflicting orders and judgments within days.
“This ugly trend began with the Hon. Justice Mohammed Liman of the Port Harcourt Division of the Federal High Court. He granted an exparte order in respect of the same issues and parties on the 23rd of May, 2016, twelve (12) days after the Federal High Court, Lagos, had become seized of the matter and made orders which forbid the PDP from conducting any election into the offices of the National Chairman, National Secretary and National Auditor occupied by the 1st (Sheriff), 2nd (Prof. Wale Oladipo) and 3rd plaintiffs (Alhaji Fatai Adeyanju) respectively pending the determination of the substantive suit.
“The same court granted an order restraining the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from monitoring and/or recognizing the conduct of any election by the 2nd Defendant/Respondent (PDP) into the offices of the National Chairman, National Secretary and National Auditor occupied by the 1st (Sheriff), 2nd (Prof. Wale Oladipo) and 3rd Plaintiffs (Alhaji Fatai Adeyanju) respectively pending the determination of the substantive suit.”
