Court voids PDP’s expulsion of Kashamu, Ogun Chairman

A HIGH Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Apo, Abuja has set aside the People’s Democratic Party’s (PDP) expulsion of Senator Buruji Kashamu (Ogun East) and the party’s Ogun State Chairman, Adebayo Dayo, an engineer.

Justice Valentine Ashi, in a ruling yesterday, held that the purported expulsion was unlawful because it was done in flagrant disobedience of a subsisting order of the court made on December 7, 2017, which was restated on January 9, 2018.

It directed parties not to do anything to jeopardise the hearing of the pending case.

The court had, while restating its earlier order on January 9, 2018, added that the PDP must not carry out any disciplinary action against the defendants without first, having recourse to the court.

Justice Ashi, who nullified the expulsion, also set aside the PDP’s letter, dated August 1, 2018, conveying the expulsion to Kashamu and Dayo.

The judge ordered PDP’s Chairman, Uche Secondus to, within 48 hours of his receipt of the court order, to show cause why the court’s disciplinary measure should not be deployed against him for aiding his party to violate a valid court order.

In the alternative, the court ordered Secondus to show why he should not be referred to the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice for prosecution, before the Magistrates’ Court of the FCT, for obstructing the course of justice.

The ruling was on an application  filed by Kashamu and Dayo, which was argued for the applicants by their lawyer, Charles Ndukwe.

The PDP had, on December 4, 2017, sued Kashamu and four others. It sought among others, order restraining Kashamu and the other defendants from preventing it from carrying out its legitimate activities, including its national convention slated for  December 9 and 10, 2017.

On December 7, 2017, the court granted PDP’s ex-parte motion and ordered parties to maintain the status quo, by refraining from doing anything that is capable of  jeopardising the hearing of the pending interlocutory application and the substantive suit.

Sued with Kashamu were: Chief Makanjuola Ogundipe (PDP South West leader), Alhaji Adewale Adeyanju, Dayo and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

On January 9, 2018, the court, upon complaint by Kashamu and Dayo, set aside their suspension by the PDP. The court said the suspension was carried out by the PDP while the case was still pending.

The court proceeded to restrain the PDP from taking any disciplinary action against Kashamu and others without first making recourse to the court and fixed further hearing in the case till a later date.

Rather than prosecute its case to conclusion, the PDP abandoned it, following which the court, on May 2, 2018, struck it out and set down the defendants’ counter-claim for hearing on November 6, 2018.

On July 24, 2018, the PDP announced the expulsion of Kashamu and Dayo, which was contained in the party’s letter of August 1, 2018, which it served on the two.

The party’s decision  informed the application by Kashamu and Dayo, on which Justice Ashi’s ruling yesterday was based.

In the ruling, the judge agreed with the applicants (Kashamu and Dayo)  that the order made on December 7, 2017 and restated on January 9, 2018 was still binding on the plaintiff (PDP) and all parties despite its (PDP’s) abandoning of the case, which led to it being struck out.

Justice Ashi noted that even when the main suit was struck out, the counter-claim filed by Kashamu and other defendants was still pending.

The judge rejected PDP’s objection to the suit and held that the suit Kashamu filed against the party before the Federal High Court, Abuja was different from the one before his court.