Court ruling against PDP convention ‘ineffective’ – Party member

A Peoples Democratic Party member contesting as the party’s next spokesperson, Kabir Usman, has said that an order given by an Abuja Federal High Court suspending the party’s national convention is “ineffective”.

Justice Okon Abang of the court had on Monday granted an interim order suspending the August 17 national convention in Port Harcourt, Rivers state, pending the determination of the application filed before him on July 20.

The judge gave the order after a lawyer representing the Ali Sheriff faction informed him that the Makarfi faction’s national secretary, Ben Obi, had approached the Port Harcourt division of the Federal High Court to obtain an interim injunction.

The injunction compelled the Independent National Electoral Commission and security agencies not to take part in the convention.

But Mr. Kabir, who spoke to PREMIUM TIMES by the telephone on Tuesday said the Port Harcourt order was ” very specific and was given last week” while, the Abuja order was given only on Monday.

 “Monday’s ruling was intolerable and unacceptable and cannot stand. It is the misconduct of the highest order,” he said.

The Makarfi faction had already said it would go ahead with the convention in line with the ruling of the Federal High Court, Port Harcourt

Mr. Kabir, who served as the head of the legal unit of the Makarfi faction caretaker committee before he resigned to run for election, said the right thing for anyone opposed to the Port Harcourt ruling to do was to go on appeal and” not a court of equal jurisdiction”.

 “In any case everybody is in Port Harcourt already, so who are they going to serve? We only read about the order in the pages of newspapers,” he said.

On his chances in the election, Mr. Kabir said he was sure of emerging victorious after he was endorsed by the northern caucus of the party.

He is from Kogi state, north central Nigeria.