Secretariat blockade: PDP faction questions court docket conduct following swimsuit dismissal

The Peoples Democratic Party has raised issues over the conduct of the Federal Excessive Court docket, Abuja, after its swimsuit difficult the police blockade of the occasion’s nationwide secretariat was dismissed regardless of being formally withdrawn according to court docket guidelines.

PDP Nationwide Publicity Secretary, Ini Ememobong, mentioned in a press release on Friday that the court docket’s determination to dismiss the case has deepened the occasion’s lingering issues about judicial impartiality.

The occasion acknowledged, “Earlier than this swimsuit, we had earlier written to the Chief Choose complaining in regards to the apparent partiality of three out of the twelve judges of the Federal Excessive Court docket in Abuja. Within the mentioned letter, we had exhaustively expressed our doubt and full lack of religion of their capability to pretty dispense justice in issues the place the PDP is concerned.

“Regardless of this data, the Chief Choose nonetheless assigned our case to her. Once we appeared within the matter, we filed a movement for recusal, asking that Justice Abdulmalik recuse herself from the matter and return the file to the CJ for reassignment. Fairly than do the needful, which is to take the movement and rule on it, the choose dominated that she would handle the case in a method handy for her, which is to take all of the motions (together with the movement for recusal) alongside the listening to of the case and, on the level of judgment, give her ruling on the movement for recusal earlier than the judgment. This, in our view, defeats honest listening to, as we’ve indicated our full lack of belief in her capacity to be honest within the matter, or some other matter in regards to the PDP.

“To this finish, we filed a discover of discontinuance as offered for in Order 50 Rule 2(1) of the Federal Excessive Court docket (Civil Process) Guidelines 2019, which entitles a plaintiff to withdraw a swimsuit with out the depart of the court docket inside fourteen days of the receipt of the final defendant’s assertion of defence. It’s on file that we filed the discover of discontinuance three days after the assertion of defence of the final defendant was filed and served, due to this fact being securely throughout the provisions of the principles.

“At the moment, after our counsel knowledgeable the court docket of our intention to discontinue, citing the related guidelines, the choose listened to arguments by all of the counsel within the matter and dominated, dismissing as an alternative of putting out our case. This once more exacerbates our occasion’s subsisting worry in regards to the impartiality of the court docket.”

The opposition occasion recalled Justice Niki Tobi’s admonition, urging Nigerian judges to maintain a transparent and vast separation from politics and politicians.

PDP governors had earlier ratified the Ibadan conference at which Turaki and different members of the Nationwide Working Committee have been elected for a four-year tenure on November 16.

Nonetheless, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, alongside his allies Mohammed Abdulrahman and Senator Anyanwu, maintained that they continued to carry workplace as Appearing Nationwide Chairman and Appearing Nationwide Secretary, respectively.

Regardless of the governors overseeing a easy transition from former Chairman Umar Damagum to Turaki (SAN) forward of the expiration of Damagum’s tenure on December 9, the Wike-aligned faction proceeded on December 8 to represent a 13-member caretaker committee, appointing Mohammed, Anyanwu, and others with a 60-day mandate.

Consequently, makes an attempt by each factions to imagine management of the PDP Nationwide Headquarters at Wadata Plaza, Abuja, degenerated into violence, prompting the police in November to seal the occasion’s headquarters and one other workplace in Maitama, Abuja.

In a bid to handle the disaster and take over the Secretariat, the Turaki-led Nationwide Working Committee filed a swimsuit on the Federal Excessive Court docket in Abuja.

On Friday, Justice Joyce Abdulmalik ordered the dismissal of the case after counsel to the plaintiffs, Chief Chris Uche, SAN, moved a movement to discontinue the swimsuit and urged the court docket to strike it out. The choose, nevertheless, dismissed the matter on the grounds that points had already been joined.

The plaintiffs, PDP, its Nationwide Chairman Kabiru Turaki, and Nationwide Secretary Taofeek Arapaja, had, within the swimsuit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2520/2025, named the Inspector-Basic of Police and the Nigeria Police Pressure as first and second defendants.

They sought, amongst different reliefs, an order directing the police to vacate the occasion’s nationwide secretariat at Wadata Plaza, Wuse, Abuja.