Suspended National Deputy Legal Adviser of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Okechukwu Osuoha, has insisted that the convention held by the party’s other faction in Ibadan “was not a convention in the eyes of the law,” accusing some party leaders of ignoring valid court orders and violating the PDP constitution.
In an interview with ARISE News on Monday, Osuoha said the party’s crisis stems from “personal interests overriding the collective interests of the PDP,” arguing that the faction that conducted the Ibadan convention acted in clear disobedience of a Federal High Court judgment.
“Because we are in a democracy and democracy thrives by the rule of law, the problem we’ve been having in our party is that some individuals allowed their personal interests to override the collective interests of the party,” he said.
Osuoha, a lawyer, explained that a Federal High Court had ordered the PDP to halt preparations for its convention until internal issues were resolved.
“A court of competent jurisdiction—the Federal High Court—sat on the matter, deliberated, the people came and gave their defence, and the court gave an unambiguous judgement that there should be no convention, that they should put the convention on hold and put their house in order,” he said.
He argued that the Interim Order obtained in Ibadan could not override an existing judgment.
“People ran to another court in Ibadan and obtained an interim order—an ex parte order with a seven-day lifespan. In law, a lower court cannot override the judgment of a court of coordinate jurisdiction. If you are dissatisfied, you approach the appellate court. When you don’t do this, it amounts to abuse of court process and contempt,”he said.
Asked about his suspension, Osuoha rejected the claim entirely.
“I’m the Deputy National Legal Adviser. What kind of suspension? Nobody wrote to me. Nobody gave me any offence I committed. You don’t go to social media and say you’ve suspended me,”** he said.
He added that his tenure, elected in 2021, is still legally valid.
“I was elected in 2021 with other national officers for four years. How can you suspend me without due process? Even in law, you must give me fair hearing,” he stated.
When asked whether he belongs to Nyesom Wike’s political camp, Osuoha declined the label but defended the former Rivers governor’s contributions.
“This man—every time you mention Wike—the people parading themselves, this party nearly collapsed. It was Wike who supported the party. He did everything possible to make sure the party is alive today,” he said.
He denied Wike had committed anti-party offences.
“He has not. I’ve never accused him of any offence. Allegations are myriad, but at NEC—our highest organ—nobody mentioned anything about sponsorship or anti-party activities,”** he said.
Osuoha said the PDP is in crisis because it is disregarding its own rules and the constitution of Nigeria.
“Democracy thrives by the rule of law. Back in June, NEC said if we must go for convention, go and put our house in order—do congresses in all states where congresses have not been done. Southeast has not done congresses. Even the southeast congress done before was nullified by court,” he explained.
He accused the faction of excluding legally recognised delegates from states where congresses were yet to be conducted.
“You forget court orders and go for convention. You are excluding people. That is a violation of the law,”he said.
Despite the party’s deepening divisions, Osuoha believes the PDP can recover.
“It will recover. But we must obey the law. There should be no impunity. People should not do things by their whims and caprices,” he said.
He insisted that a lawful, properly convened convention remains the only credible path forward.
“When the time comes, we’ll do a proper convention. I’m telling you, in the eyes of the law, that day they claimed was a convention—it was not a convention,”he argued.
He noted that INEC did not observe the controversial convention, which in itself invalidates the process.
“INEC is supposed to observe all actions of the party. Even the 21-day notice was not given. And you expelled the National Secretary—the very person constitutionally empowered to notify INEC. You’re shooting yourself in the head,” he said.
Osuoha ended by warning that the crisis is internally manufactured.
“This crisis is man-made. We are inflicting these injuries on ourselves. I’ve said time and time again—we should tread with caution,”he said.
He urged PDP leaders to stop blaming external forces.
“They always accuse APC of wanting to kill PDP while we are shooting ourselves in the leg and laying booby traps. If we don’t follow the law, we will not move forward,” he said.
Boluwatife Enome
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