
A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Wednesday re-affirmed the sack of Ali Modu Sheriff as the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
Justice Nwamaka Ogbonnaya, held that an earlier judgment given by Justice Valentine Ashi, which nullified Modu Sheriff’s appointment on June 29, has not been set aside or vacated and is therefore subsisting.
Ogbonnaya ruled that all actions taken by Modu-Sherif are null, void and of no effect since the earlier order of Justice Ashi remains binding
The judge restrained Modu-Sheriff from further parading himself as the National Chairman of the PDP.
Recall that Justice Ashi had in his judgment on June 29, nullified the 2014 PDP Constitution amendment upon which Modu-Sheriff was said to have been appointed as PDP Chairman.
Ashi voided the said amendment on the basis that there was no compliance with mandatory provisions of Article 66 (2) and (3) of the PDP constitution.
“By reason of the above, the purported amendments introduced to the constitution on the aforesaid dates, are hereby set-aside.
“All persons, individuals, servants or agents of PDP parading themselves as national officers of the PDP pursuant to the purported amendment which has now been nullified are hereby restrained from further parading themselves in these capacities “, Justice Ashi said.
However, there had been several other court orders for and against the removal of Modu-Sheriff as PDP chairman and the formation of a caretaker committee led by Ahmed Makarfi.
The latest of the judgments was given by Justice Okon Abang of the Federal high court in Abuja, ordering the Makarfi-led faction of the PDP not to go ahead with its proposed national convention which was scheduled to hold on Wednesday in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
The Nigeria Police, acting on the order, sealed off the venue for the proposed election, forcing the party delegates to return to the Party’s secretariat in Port Harcourt, where they unanimously agreed to extend Makarfi’s chairmanship of the Caretaker committee by 12 months.