Africa-Press – Nigeria. A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and former media adviser to ex-Vice President Namadi Sambo, Sani Umar, has described the recent court judgment against the party as politically motivated and biased.
Umar stated this during an interview with Arise TV, where he reacted to the ruling delivered by Justice Omotosho, which ordered the PDP to give a 21-day notice before holding its national convention.
According to him, the judgment did not reflect the facts of the case and granted reliefs that were never requested by the plaintiffs.
“The judgment of Justice Omotosho was prejudicial, premeditated, and politically motivated,” Umar said.
“He gave the plaintiffs what they didn’t even ask for. The issue of a 21-day notice was not part of their prayers, yet he went ahead to include it.”
He accused the judge of showing bias in his handling of cases involving the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, who he said has been inducing crises within the PDP.
“We know that any matter before Justice Omotosho involving Wike will not favor the PDP,” Umar alleged.
“He has displayed bias, and we are going to petition the National Judicial Council over this matter.”
Umar said the court ignored key issues raised by the PDP, including the question of jurisdiction, and failed to address the party’s arguments.
“We asked the court to rule on the issue of jurisdiction because the matter was an internal party affair,” he explained. “But the judge didn’t even touch that point. Instead, he went straight into the case and started setting aside our submissions.”
Speaking further on the suspension crisis rocking the PDP, Umar said the four members who claimed to have suspended the National Chairman, Ambassador Iliya Damagum, lacked the power to do so, as they did not even form a quorum of the National Working Committee (NWC).
“Those who said they suspended the national chairman have no such authority,” he said.
“The NWC has 19 members, and only four of them cannot form a quorum to hold a valid meeting, not to talk of suspending the national chairman.”
He added that the suspension announced by the group was reactionary and aimed at deceiving the public.
“What they are trying to do is to create confusion in the eyes of the public. But in the minds of those who are PDP members, we know that the NWC chaired by Damagum followed the proper procedure.”
Umar maintained that the National Working Committee acted strictly within the provisions of the PDP Constitution in suspending erring members.
“Section 58 and 59 of our constitution empower the committee to suspend any member found guilty of misconduct,” he said. “The national chairman duly summoned the meeting, and 15 members were in attendance. That’s a clear quorum.”
He insisted that the PDP would appeal the judgment and proceed with its convention, noting that the ruling was designed to frustrate the party’s reorganization efforts.
“We will appeal the judgment and apply for a stay of execution. Once that is granted, the ruling will no longer be binding, and we will go ahead with our convention.”
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