Palpable relief has continued to pervade Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) following the dismissal by an Appeal Court sitting in Port Harcourt of appeal of the suspended and deeply bitter national chairman of the party, Uche Secondus, seeking an interim injunction to stop the national convention.
The convention is billed for Saturday and Sunday, October 30 and 31, 2021, in Abuja.
The three-man panel dismissed the appeal which was filed on October 14.
The judgment was read by Justice Gabriel Kolawale which was unanimously endorsed by the other two members of the panel.
There had been an air of heightened suspense as the Appeal Court on Tuesday adjourned till yesterday the hearing of arguments on the application seeking to stop the Party from conducting the national convention which the convention committee headed by Governor Ahmadu Fintiri has been working tirelessly to organize with success.
A panel of the three justices led by Justice Haruna Tsammani adjourned the hearing till 12pm on Thursday to allow new parties who applied to join in the case to make their contributions.
Yesterday’s Appeal Court pronouncement has scuttled attempts by Secondus to scuttle the convention in a suit being interpreted by political watchers as a game of wits.
In its bid to resolve the internal crisis that rocked the Uche Secondus led National Working Committee of the party, the PDP had announced a special convention to elect a set of new national officers.
But this decision by the party did not go well with Secondus – the suspended PDP National Chairman – who believes the conduct of the convention will abruptly end his tenure that is due to expire in December.
Seeking to gain an upper hand in the stand-off, he filed an application as part of the processes in the ongoing litigation over his suspension from the party, to stop the PDP from proceeding with the convention as planned.
Amid the controversy sparked by his suspension, a high court in Rivers – on September 10 – affirmed Secondus’ suspension from the party at his ward in Ikuru Town in Andoni Local Government Area of the state.
This was, however, challenged by the PDP which filed an application at the appellate court to test the validity of Secondus’ suspension from the party.
During Tuesday’s proceedings, the appellate court struck out the application after the new counsel to the PDP, Sunday Ameh, said upon going through the processes, he did not find the need to continue with the application.
Following the suspension of Secondus, PDP Deputy National Chairman (South), Yomi Akinwonmi, has been serving as the party’s national chairman in an acting capacity.
Checks by The Daily Spokesman yesterday showed that the mood at the party Wadata National Secretariat in Wuse, Abuja was busy as party delegates and their representatives were seen checking the lists of accredited delegates many of whom are believed to have arrived the nation’s capital for the convention.
It was also the same mood at the Legacy House, headquarters of the national convention committee located opposite Defence House in Maitama.
Expected to attend the National Convention are former and serving Governors, Senators, House of Rep. members and loyal and die-hard chieftains of the party such as former national chairmen, Bamangar Tukur, Namadi Sambo, Atiku Abubakar, Bello Haliru Mohammed, David Mark, Tunde Ogbeha, Onyema Ugochukwu, Okwuesilieze Nwodo, Abubakar Mustapha, Shuaib Oyedokun, Bode George and Tom Ikimi, among others. It is not clear if, at press time, former President Goodluck Jonathan, who has been rumored to be nursing the ambition of running for the Presidency again on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), will attend the convention.
