Obasanjo’s faction beats Daniel’s in battle for Ogun PDP tickets

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s faction gained the upper hand yesterday in the legal battle for Ogun State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) tickets.

Governor Gbenga Daniel lost his senatorial ticket at the Federal High Court, Abuja.

Daniel was not alone in the judicial loss; his faction’s governorship candidate Mr. Gboyega Isiaka, and the daughter of the late acclaimed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, Chief M.K.O Abiola, Mrs. Lola Abiola-Edewoh, also lost their tickets.

The court affirmed Brig.-Gen Adetunji Olurin as the governorship candidate.

Delivering judgment in the suit filed by the Obasanjo faction, Justice Abdul Kafarati, ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to recognise only the list containing the former Oyo State Military Administrator and five other plaintiffs as the authentic candidates.

Others are Olurin’s running mate, Mr. Tunde Oladunjoye, Babatunde Fadun, Hon. Dave Salako, Wale Solaja and Seun Adesanya.

Oladunjoye is a former Chairman of the Ijebu East Local Government who was forced out of office by Daniel.

The plaintiffs emerged from the primaries conducted by the harmonised State Executive Council constituted by the PDP after the dissolution of the Joju Fadairo-led executive.

But the PDP, which supported Daniel in the battle against Obasanjo’s men has filed a Notice of Appeal to challenge the verdict.

Judging by the claims of the plaintiffs in the originating summons, the court said it has jurisdiction to heart the suit.

Justice Kafarati nullified the primaries conducted by the Joju-Fadairo-led group because it was in disobedience to an order of a Federal High Court, Lagos, delivered on September 21, which restrained the faction from conducting the primaries.

This was after he dismissed the preliminary objection filed by the Daniel faction.

According to him, Daniel, Isiaka, and Mrs. Abiola-Edewo, among others, were products of an illegal State Executive Council (SEC).

He dismissed the order of an Ogun State High Court relied upon by the PDP in organising the primaries from where the Daniel faction emerged.

Justice Kafarati observed that PDP could not have dealt with an executive it had dissolved through a letter signed by the former National Chairman, Dr. Okwesiliieze Nwodo, to the PDP National Vice Chairman Southwest, before the inauguration of the harmonized executives.

Besides, he held that the injunction restraining the dissolution of the Joju Fadairo-led executives did not avail the defendants because it was obtained after it had been dissolved and a harmonised state executives put in place.

To him, the court injunction granted the Fadairo faction by the Court in August 11, 2010 was not necessary and could not be binding on the plaintiffs or PDP because the dissolution was carried out in May while the harmonised state executive was announced on August 6, 2010.

Said Justice Kafarati: “It is settled law that a court injunction cannot restrain a completed act. Interlocutory injunction is not a remedy to a completed act. It is my view that the order of the High Court is of no effect and should not have been issued.

“The plaintiffs could not have been expected to participate in Joju Fadairo-led executive activities since there was a subsisting order of the Federal High Court, Lagos restraining it from performing any function of the executives or conducting the primaries pending the hearing and the determination of Originating Summons.

“An order of the Court subsists, until it is set aside. The Plaintiffs could not reasonably be expected to perform in any activities of the Joju Fadairo-led executives. The originating Summons succeeds. It is hereby granted in favour of the plaintiffs.”

In the Notice of Appeal filed by its Counsel, Prince Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), PDP said that the “trial judge erred in law in granting the claim of the plaintiffs without appreciating the fact that, plaintiffs’ suit was not properly constituted as necessary parties were not before the court, which feature robbed and still robs the court of jurisdiction.

Besides, the party contended that the Plaintiffs’ suit was incompetent because they did not exhaust all internal remedies provided by the party in its electoral guideline.

Justice Kafarati held that the PDP Constitution cannot override Section 87 of the Electoral Act, read together with Section 6(6b0 of the 1999 Constitution, which gives an aggrieved aspirant the right to sue, if there is violation of his rights by his party.