Appeal Court Reinstates Oyinlola As PDP National Secretary

 A Court of Appeal, Abuja, on Wednesday reinstated a former Osun State governor, Olagunsoye Oyinlola as the National Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party.

The three-man panel chaired by Justice Amiru Sanusi upturned the January 11 judgment of the Federal High court, Abuja, which sacked him.

Justice Abdul Kafarati had declared that Oyinlola’s nomination and subsequent election as the National Secretary of PDP were invalid, null and void.

He relied on the order and two separate judgments of the Federal High Court, Lagos that nullified the South-West PDP zonal congress that produced him as candidate for the national convention in March 2012.

The trial judge gave the verdict in a suit by the Ogun State Executive Committee of the party.

Dissatisfied, Oyinlola approached the Court of Appeal, Abuja, asking it to set aside the judgment.

In its judgment on Wednesday, the appellate court said the judgment of the Federal High Court, Lagos relied on to remove Oyinlola was not binding on him because he was not a party in the suit.

Justice Joseph Pine Pur, held that the judgment of the Federal High Court, Abuja, was null and void because Oyinlola was denied a fair hearing in the Lagos suit relied on to sack him.

Besides, the court held that the judgment of the Federal High Court, Abuja, could not stand because the suit which led to the order was a multiplicity of action and therefore constituted an abuse of court process.

The panel noted that the suit was the third one filed by the plaintiffs to enforce the judgment of the Federal High Court, Lagos, which nullified the South West zonal congress.

In its third reason, the panel noted that Oyinlola had already filed a motion for stay of the Lagos judgment at the Court of Appeal, Lagos, as at the time the Ogun SEC of the PDP filed a suit to enforce the judgment in Abuja.

Reacting to the judgment, counsel for the Ogun SEC, Ajibola Oluyede, said there was no evidence to support the reasons given by the Court of Appeal.

He said his clients would appeal the judgment at the Supreme Court to maintain status quo.

Oyinlola had contended that the judgment delivered by Justice Kafarati was against the weight of evidence before the court.

He said the trial judge erred in law when he overruled his preliminary objection and assumed jurisdiction in the suit.

According to him, the court does not have the jurisdiction to hear the case because the defendants are not agencies of the Federal Government.

Oyinlola also contended that the subject matter of the suit was an intra-party dispute which clearly was not justiciable, adding that the Federal High Court and indeed no court of law had jurisdiction over the subject matter of the suit.

He submitted that the judge erred in law when the court disregarded the ruling of the Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal in CA/35/12 delivered on June 25, 2012.

He therefore asked the appellate court for an order reversing the judgment of the trial judge and substituting thereto an order striking out and or dismissing the entire action with costs.

Justice Kafarati had held that the suit was not an intra-party affair of the party as claimed by (Oyinlola) but a cause of action seeking the interpretation of the two separate judgments of the Federal High Court, Lagos, which nullified the zonal congress.

He said the suit did “not constitute an abuse of court process” therefore it is “justiciable,” adding “the action discloses reasonable cause of action.”

“On the whole, the two preliminary objections are dismissed. All the three questions are answered in the affirmative and the reliefs sought granted,” he declared.

The Ogun State PDP Chairman, Adebayo Dayo, and Alhaji Semiu Sodipo (Secretary) for and on behalf of other state’s officers, had challenged the retention of Oyinlola as a PDP national officer.

By the nullification of the South West zonal congress that produced Oyinlola as candidate, the plaintiffs contended that Oyinlola had since ceased to be the national secretary of the party.

Besides, they pointed out that Oyinlola was foisted on them by a former President Chief Olusegun Obasanjo in concert with the then National Vice Chairman (South West), Alhaji Tajudeen Oladipo.

Consequently, the plaintiffs asked the court to declare Oyinlola’s continuous stay in office as invalid, null and void since his candidacy had been nullified.

They also asked the court to compel the Independent National Electoral Commission to delete his name and replace same with another candidate that would emerge from a fresh zonal congress to be ordered by the court.