PDP Asks Court to Jail Baraje, Oyinlola, Jaja

Alhaji Bamanga Tukur

•Tukur threatens to declare seats of defecting lawmakers vacant 

•Baraje: He is a joker 

•PDP chair’s despotic style forced us to break away, says Nyako

Davidson Iriekpen in Lagos, Chuks Okocha in Abuja and Daji Sani in Yola

On two fronts yesterday, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) launched offensives against aggrieved party members who pulled out on Saturday to form the New PDP.

It approached the Federal High Court, Abuja, to commit the factional national chairman of the party, Alhaji Kawu Baraje, to prison for alleged contempt of court.

It also urged the court to   jail the faction’s national secretary, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, and Baraje’s deputy, Dr. Sam Jaja.
The party wants the court to jail them for a minimum of one year each for allegedly committing criminal contempt.
The legal battle came on the same day the party’s national chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, drew the battle line with members of the splinter group of the party, whom he described as impostors.

In addition, he threatened that the party would initiate the process to have the seats of members of the National Assembly who have switched allegiance to the New PDP vacant.

However, Tukur’s characterisation of members of the splinter group, who include former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar and seven governors of the party, drew an instant rebuke from Baraje who said the party chairman was a joker and was exhibiting his ignorance in party politics.

The party in a motion on notice for the committal of Baraje and others, filed yesterday, said it was doing so pursuant to Order 35 of the Federal High Court Rules 2009.

PDP’s lawyer, Mr. Ajibola Oluyede, who made the court processes available to journalists at a briefing in Lagos, said he was directed by the Tukur-led PDP to file the suit.

He said they had also filed a preliminary objection against the suit filed by Oyinlola, Baraje and Jaja at the Lagos State High Court, Ikeja.
The three had sued Tukur, Deputy National Chairman, Uche Secondus, National Women Leader, Dr Kema Chikwe, and National Publicity Olisa Metuh, urging the court to stop them from functioning as the party’s national executive officers.

But the Tukur faction, in the contempt proceedings, said Baraje and the others violated a judgment of the Federal High Court delivered on January 11.

The judgment had nullified Oyinlola’s candidacy as a nominee of the South-west zonal chapter of the PDP.
The court   declared Oyinlola’s subsequent election to the office of national secretary at the national convention held in March last year as invalid, null and void by reason of another court order which nullified the South-west zonal congress from which Oyinlola emerged.
The faction said Oyinlola conspired with Baraje and Jaja to take actions that flouted the judgment.

By allegedly doing so, they obstructed the administration of justice by subverting the appellate process, as Oyinlola’s appeal against the judgment is yet to be determined, it added.

The party said Oyinlola, “with guilty knowledge, appointed and declared himself as the national secretary of the PDP for the purpose of rendering the judgment of this honourable court nugatory and of no effect.”

The PDP averred that by claiming to be a factional national secretary of the PDP, Oyinlola and the others disrespected the court.
“The alleged contemnors have since the delivery of the said judgment, committed additional acts of criminal contempt by conspiring to flout the purpose of the court as pronounced in its said judgment and the authority of the court in so pronouncing,” the party averred.

The applicants said the alleged contemnors acted to subvert the appeal process made available by the 1999 Constitution by taking it upon themselves to overrule the judgment and appoint Oyinlola to the office which the court had validly removed him from, without following the process stipulated by the judgment or awaiting the result of the appeal.

Oluyede, who explained that what was happening in the party was a minor incident that the party would soon overcome, blamed the actors for their actions contrary to the provisions of the constitution.

He said: “That does not really pose a danger to democracy; democracy means people should be free to express themselves. So, by expressing themselves in this way, even though it is an illegal grouping, it does not really portend danger to the polity or even the party.

“The only thing that needs urgent attention is that many times some of the players have not recognised the need to play by the rules. They ought to have realised that the freedom they are enjoying requires the existence of certain democratic structures and institutions and that they should in the course of expressing these rights bear in mind that the institution must be preserved.

“That is the actual danger to the polity and that is going to affect not just the PDP, it is going to affect the entire polity. And that is the reason why my clients take a very serious approach to the action of Alhaji Baraje, Prince Oyinlola, Dr. Sam Jaja and their supporters.

“It would appear that what they are trying to do is a coup d’état. Now the constitution of the PDP stipulates the process of the change of leadership. What the group led by Baraje has done is no more than an attempted coup. There is an illegal attempt to take over the leadership of the PDP without following due process.”

Tukur, at a news conference in Abuja also yesterday, drew the battle line with members of the New PDP.
He described members of the group, which include Atiku and the seven PDP governors as impostors.
The seven governors are Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano), Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers), Babangida Aliyu (Niger), Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto), Sule Lamido (Jigawa), Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara) and Murtala Nyako (Adamawa). 

The beleaguered party chair, who restated his leadership of the PDP, urged security agencies and other institutions of democracy to regard members of the New PDP, as impostors.

He also threatened that the party would initiate the process for the recall of members of the National Assembly who have so far switched loyalty to the splinter group.

By yesterday, 22 senators and 57 members of the House of Representatives had openly declared their loyalty to the New PDP chaired by Baraje.

As Tukur was attacking the New PDP members in Abuja, he was also under fire in Yola where the governor of his state, Nyako, with whom he has been engaged in a running battle since his assumption, criticised his leadership of the party.

According to Nyako, Tukur’s despotism and the series of injustice meted out to party members forced him and others to form a parallel party structure last Saturday.

However, Tukur, at the press conference attended by members of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC), said there is only one PDP and he is the authentic chairman.

He said: “The PDP has only one duly elected National Executive Committee (NEC) under my chairmanship. I wish therefore to state with all emphasis that any group of persons parading themselves as leaders of NEC or any other organ of our party are impostors and I urge all Nigerians, especially the security agencies and other institutions of democracy, to regard them as such.

“We shall ensure that any person who is not duly elected into any leadership position in our great party and has not been duly assigned any role but goes ahead to arrogate such to himself will be made to face the full wrath of the law.

“Similarly, all persons elected on the platform of our great party at all levels who identify with these enemies of the oneness and greatness of our party shall have their seats declared vacant as required by law.

“We shall leave no stone unturned to ensure that such persons and indeed any other individual who attempts to subvert the leadership of the PDP shall reap in full, the consequences of such actions.”

Tukur, after reading his prepared text, refused to take questions from journalists as he and other members of the NWC left the venue of the press conference.

In his reaction to the threats, Baraje described Tukur as a joker who has little knowledge of party politics.
He said: “They are all jokers. They don’t know what is party politics. We are not surprised because they are ignorant of party politics. In any case, the process of declaring seats vacant or recalling members of the national or state assembly is well known in the constitution.

“To wake up and threaten that he is going to recall members supporting us, shows that he is not fit to be the national chairman of PDP.”  
Meanwhile, the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Olisa Metuh, has debunked news reports that the certificate of registration of the party is missing.

“PDP’s certificate of registration is in proper and safe custody. It is not true that the certificate of registration of PDP by INEC as a political party is missing.

“The certificate is one of the documents handed over to the national chairman by the immediate past National Working Committee to the new NWC led by Alhaji Bamanga Tukur on assumption of office after the March 24, 2012 national convention. It is absurd to say that it is missing,” Metuh said.

But speaking on the circumstances that led to the formation of the New PDP, Nyako yesterday in Yola, the Adamawa State capital, blamed Tukur for breaking up the PDP.

He told a crowd that gathered to welcome him back after the blemished PDP special convention that the real political war has just started following the injustice perpetrated by the national leadership of the party.

He explained that the injustice and impunity being perpetrated by the party leadership needed to be halted or else the party would experience more crises.

He said: “These are people who consider themselves demigods, untouchable and having divine powers to do what they like by ruling the people with impunity. Even Pharaoh has passed away, much less mini-Pharaohs who are oppressing the people in the party.” 

He added that the unexpected protest by Atiku   and other eminent Nigerians against the conduct of the PDP leadership has vindicated the position taken by the five Northern governors, who had been junketing nationwide to consult eminent Nigerians in search of solutions to the party’s crisis.