The Court of Appeal in Abuja on Wednesday ordered the reinstatement of Olagunsoye Oyinlola as the National Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
Delivering the judgment, Justice J.T. Toh said the decision of the Federal High Court to sack Oyinlola from office was inappropriate.
“I and my brother justices have gone through the appeal and the objections filed by the respondent, but we discovered that the trial court erred in its judgment,” the judge said and ordered that the lower court’s decision given by Justice Abdu Kafarati be set aside.
Toh said: “The trial court acted in error by granting the declarative reliefs sought by the Ogun State chapter of the PDP which challenged the election of the appellant. It is hereby ordered that the appellant, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, assume his original position as the National Secretary of the PPD forthwith.”
The high court had held that Oyinlola’s participation in the election was in violation of two separate orders of a Lagos Federal High Court.
Oyinlola had approached the appellate court and urged it to set aside the court’s decision on the ground that it infringed his right to fair hearing.
The appellate court invoked Section 15 of the Court of Appeal Act and held that the lower court, indeed, infringed on the appellant’s fundamental human rights to fair hearing.