The Issues within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) intensified yesterday when a Federal High Court in Zamfara rejected a plea from an agent representing the party’s governors forum to convene the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting that was set for tomorrow.
The court denied the request for an ex parte order in a lawsuit filed by Imam Auwal, a PDP member from Bakura Ward in Zamfara State, with the opposition party and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) named as defendants.
Additionally, the court refused to issue a restraining order preventing INEC from processing any communications from the PDP until a new chairman is appointed, pending the resolution of the main motion. It also declined a request to stop the PDP National Working Committee (NWC) from acknowledging the troubled national vice chairman for the Southeast, Ali Odefa, until the motion is resolved.
Tensions have been escalating within the PDP regarding the ongoing debate over whether a substantive national chairman should be appointed from the North Central region, the home of former chairman Iyorchia Ayu.
During its last NEC meeting on April 18, the party postponed the appointment of a new chairman to August 28. However, the NWC, led by acting chairman Umar Damagum, has rescheduled the meeting for October 24.
Compounding the situation, a separate Federal High Court ruling in Abuja on October 11 prohibited the party from replacing Damagum as acting chairman until December 2025, further deepening the rift within the opposition party and increasing uncertainty over the upcoming NEC meeting.
The Zamfara court was requested to issue an “Interlocutory Injunction” to prevent the first defendant, along with its officers and agents, from postponing the scheduled NEC meeting on Thursday, October 24, 2024, at the party’s National Secretariat in Abuja until the motion is conclusively heard.
The court was also asked to issue an injunction preventing the defendants from recognizing any NEC meetings held on dates other than the one set for October 24, 2024, as the official 99th NEC Meeting of the first defendant/respondent until the motion’s final determination.
