A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Umar Sani, has rejected last week’s judgement of the Federal High Court in Ibadan which nullified the party’s November National Convention, insisting that internal leadership disputes of political parties are not justiciable and have already been settled by the Supreme Court.
Speaking in an interview with ARISE News on Sunday, Sani said the judgement delivered by Justice Uche Agomoh was legally flawed and amounted to granting reliefs that were never sought by any of the parties before the court.
“What we are saying, in essence, is that this is a settled matter,” Sani said.
“The Supreme Court has settled this matter even recently in decided cases like INEC versus SGP, Nenadi Usman versus Julius Abure, and several other decisions, including those involving the PDP, that leadership issues and internal affairs of a political party are not the business of the court. They are not justiciable.”
The Federal High Court had sacked officials elected at the PDP’s Ibadan convention and affirmed the Ketika Caretaker Committee aligned with the faction loyal to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, while restraining the Kabiru Turaki-led faction from parading itself as the party’s National Working Committee.
However, Sani argued that the court acted outside the scope of the case before it.
“What is making that judgement very laughable, if we may say so, is that we are the ones who filed the suit before Justice Agomoh,” he said.
“We went to court seeking an order of mandamus compelling INEC to recognise our team. The Wike group only joined the suit, and the only prayer before the court was that our request should be denied.”
According to him, issues relating to the convention and the caretaker committee were never raised.
“The issue of the convention was never mentioned. The issue of any caretaker committee was never mentioned. It was not even part of the brief,” Sani said.
“Our lawyer never argued on that. The other lawyers never argued on that. And then all of a sudden, the court decided to grant reliefs that nobody asked for.”
He accused the court of acting as what he described as a “Father Christmas”.
“If you deny us our prayer, we agree. That should have been the end of the matter,” he said.
“But to now give them reliefs they never sought for — that is why we say the court became a Father Christmas, dashing out orders nobody asked for.”
Sani further alleged bias within the Federal High Court, claiming the party has faced repeated difficulties in its legal battles.
“We feel that we are not safe in the Federal High Court. Anywhere we go, we are not getting it easy,” he said.
Citing another pending matter, he alleged hostile treatment by some judges.
“We recently filed a suit asking that the police should leave our property and allow us to use it,” he said.
“There are judges we described as judges of particular concern. Any time cases relating to Wike go before them, he must win by any means necessary.”
He claimed the party formally objected to certain judges handling its cases.
“We wrote to the Chief Judge, but the matter was still assigned to one of them,” Sani said.
“When the case came up even just for mention, the judge spent about 15 minutes rebuking our lawyer, calling him names and questioning why some people were given the rank of SAN.”
He questioned the motive behind the court’s actions.
“We find it difficult to understand why the Federal High Court is totally against us,” he said.
“Is it because we don’t have land to give to anybody? What is the issue? What is the problem?”
Addressing suggestions that the judge may have been exercising judicial activism, Sani insisted that the matter should never have come before the court.
“Right from the beginning, this is an internal party matter,” he said.
“The Supreme Court has settled it. It is not something that should even come before the court.”
He referenced comments allegedly made at a recent judges’ conference.
“Justice Helen Ogunwumiju said she is disturbed that when the Supreme Court has settled a matter, some courts still reactivate it,” Sani said.
“She specifically referred to the Federal High Court, saying it keeps resuscitating matters that are already settled.”
According to Sani, judicial interference in party affairs undermines democracy.
“Once the court interferes in the internal affairs of a political party, it becomes an interested party in the political process,” he said.
He confirmed that the PDP faction has appealed the judgement and filed a motion for stay of execution.
“We have already appealed, and we have filed a motion for stay of execution,” Sani said.
“As far as we are concerned, once a stay is filed, it operates pending the hearing and determination of the appeal.”
He added that the party does not recognise the judgement.
“So, as far as we are concerned, the judgement never took place,” he said.
“The judgement cannot take effect when there is a valid appeal before the Court of Appeal.”
Despite concerns that the crisis could weaken the PDP ahead of future elections, Sani said the party remains focused on survival and relevance.
“We are very disturbed about the future of our party,” he said.
“We want our party to participate. We want our party to be the opposition. We don’t want people to believe in the PDP only for the purpose of contesting elections.”
He expressed confidence that the appellate courts would resolve the matter swiftly.
“Our chairman has said that the Court of Appeal recently treated about 500 cases in Lagos and plans to do the same in Abuja,” Sani said.
“We entirely agree with him. Any roadblock being placed on our path is just a landmine, and we will clear it very soon.”
Boluwatife Enome
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