PDP Suspends Oyinlola

There seems to be no end in sight to the crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as its National Working Committee (NWC) Monday wielded the big stick yesterday, when it suspended its former acting National Chairman, Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje; the party’s National Secretary, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola; its former Deputy National Chairman, Dr. Sam Sam Jaja; and National Vice Chairman, Northwest of the breakaway faction of the PDP, Ambassador Ibrahim Kazuare.

Ostensibly, the decision was meant to forestall any move by the New PDP to enforce the reinstatement of Oyinlola as the party’s scribe following a Court of Appeal judgment Monday reversing his removal by a lower court.

Also, PDP directed that the four suspended party members should face the Umaru Dikko-led National Disciplinary Committee of the party, while maintaining that the party was yet to get the Court of Appeal order that reinstated Oyinlola as the national secretary.
But Oyinlola, in a swift reaction said: “This is part of the impunity we are protesting against. None of us has been queried or requested to give explanations for any alleged offence.

“And if they are reacting to the issue of the New PDP, why did they decide to leave out the serving state governors, senators and members of the House of Representatives who have been very vocal? It’s all an attempt to circumvent the ruling of the Court of Appeal.
“Certainly, the last has not been heard on this matter and I am sure that the truth will prevail over falsehood.”

Addressing newsmen yesterday after a series of meetings of the NWC, the National Publicity Secretary of PDP, Olisa Metuh said the suspension of Oyinlola, Jaja, Baraje and Kazuare was as a result of a breach of the party’s constitution, for anti-party activities, and for engaging in actions causing and bringing disrepute to PDP.

He added that the suspension of the four members was due to their involvement in “identity theft and their factionalisation of the PDP that eventually led to the formation of a faction by the name ‘New PDP’ despite the order of the Federal High Court and the position of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that there is no crisis within the ruling party.”

Metuh therefore listed the various constitutional breaches of the suspended officials to include Sections 58(1), (g), (h) and (i), stating that these relevant provisions constitute issues that bring the PDP to disrepute, while their decision to walk out of the special national convention of the party led to disaffection among members of the party.

He specifically stated that the party delayed in wielding the big stick, because it wanted to ensure reconciliation and allow the suspended officials to purge themselves of their various anti-party activities, but such had failed.

Metuh, who stressed that Oyinlola’s suspension had nothing to do with the Court of Appeal ruling, said: “As far as PDP is concerned, we are yet to receive any Court of Appeal order. The party has not received any judgment or any enrolled order from the Court of Appeal. Until we are served, there is nothing the party can do to the contrary.”

He added: “Members of the party are not happy with the activities of the faction that has constituted itself to a nuisance and is involved in party identity theft. We have been treating our brothers with kid gloves thinking that they would see reason and come back to their senses.”
However, prior to his suspension, alongside other members of the party, the order by the Court of Appeal that had directed the reinstatement of Oyinlola had fractured the already fragile situation within the PDP, as the party was in a dilemma over what to do with his planned return.

It was gathered that former President Olusegun Obasanjo had contacted President Goodluck Jonathan, urging him to use the Court of Appeal’s ruling to heal the crisis in the party.

The former president’s advice, notwithstanding, THISDAY gathered that at the last count, members of the National Working Committee (NWC) held three separate meetings yesterday on the Oyinlola dilemma.

In the first meeting yesterday morning held at the Wuse 2 residence of the National Chairman of PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, the committee reviewed the court judgment and its implications.

Though there was no consensus among the members at the meeting, it was agreed that they should inform the president on the outcome of their meeting.

At the meeting, some members of the NWC canvassed the need for the appeal at the Supreme Court and further follow up with a request for a stay of execution.
However, some members of the NWC warned against being in contempt of the Court of Appeal order.

It was at this point that the NWC members proceeded to the Presidential Villa, where the members met with Jonathan on how to handle the court order.

At the meeting with the president, Jonathan was said to be in support of Oyinlola’s reinstatement, but held that the former Osun State governor must severe relations with the seven aggrieved governors of the party and other members of the faction.

The meeting, however, was not conclusive, even after the president informed the NWC members of Obasanjo’s position on the court order.

The NWC members had argued that it was unfair for the faction and the group of seven governors to move for the enforcement of Oyinlola’s reinstatement, because when Justice Elvis Chukwu of the Federal High Court directed that the faction should cease to exist, the order was not obeyed as they continued to use the party’s logo, issue statements and hold meetings.
THISDAY was told Tukur, in particular, was not happy with the court ruling on Oyinlola and did not hide his feelings about it. It was at this juncture that the NWC members agreed to meet again without Tukur to reach a consensus.

The NWC members then returned to the national secretariat, where they held another meeting and thereafter left at 3.40 pm to brief the national chairman on the outcome of the last meeting.

Meanwhile, it was gathered yesterday that Oyinlola had obtained a Certified True Copy (CTC) of the Court of Appeal judgment and will officially serve both the PDP and INEC with the document.

When THISDAY contacted INEC, the Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Kayode Idowu described the court’s directive as a “purely PDP affair”, stating, “When the first court was served and implemented, the party informed the commission. This time around, when PDP decides on what to do, then the commission should be informed. This is INEC’s position for now.”

Also, no less than 65 officers of the State Security Services (SSS) yesterday had mounted surveillance within and outside the national secretariat of the PDP, with some of them hidden in adjoining buildings as snipers. They parked their Nissan vehicles and Peugeot vans adjacent to the PDP national secretariat.

Despite the presence of security personnel, Oyinlola did not show up at the national secretariat, despite the claims by the faction of the party that they would storm the national secretariat of the party to enforce his reinstatement.

Reacting to the suspension of the four officials, the National Publicity Secretary of the splinter PDP, Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, said: “The problem we are having with Tukur and his NWC is that they lack not only democratic character but lack common understanding of the PDP constitution.

“To us this is an abuse of the judiciary, the Nigeria Constitution on fair hearing and most importantly the PDP constitution of 2009, as amended, Article 21 Section 9, which states and I quote: ‘Notwithstanding any other provision of this constitution relating to discipline, no executive committee at any level except NEC (National Executive Committee) shall entertain any question of discipline as may relate or concern a member of the NEC, public officer holder, that is, ministers, ambassadors, special advisers, or any member of the  legislative houses!’
“Article 21.10: ‘No disciplinary committee at any level except the National Disciplinary Committee shall impose any punishment provided under Article 21.7 of the constitution arising from any disciplinary on any person named in subsection 21.9 of this constitution.’

“With these sections of our constitution, considering that Oyinlola by his position as the national secretary, the process for his suspension was in violation of the constitution of the party.”

SOURCE: www.thisdaylive.com