Aggrieved members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who are currently in court against the party have been warned to withdraw their cases of face sanctions by the party.
This statement was made by the Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Diran Odeyemi, on Thursday, 4th April, 2019 referring to the various litigations instituted against the party by its members as inimical to the successes the party has achieved in the last few years and advised all aggrieved members to withdraw their cases or face sanctions from the party.
He expressed disappointment on the case against the candidacy of the governorship candidate of the party in Osun, Ademola Adeleke, at the high court in Bwari, Abuja and other outstanding litigations. He said he was very worried that at a point where the party is fighting to regain its mandate in Osun State, a case file against Ademola Adeleke by a member of the party has ruled against the PDP candidate, making the situation more complex for the party.
Ademola Adeleke, who is currently a serving senator, was recently declared the winner of 22nd September 2018 governorship election by the Osun governorship election petition tribunal, which conducted its sittings in Abuja. But the contest of the party’s governorship ticket for the Osun election by Akin Ogunbiyi has remained an internal concern which had further compounded the challenges of Ademola Adeleke.
In an earlier statement, Akin Ogunbiyi, has distance himself from the case challenging the candidacy of Ademola Adeleke as the PDP gubernatorial candidate in Osun State in the 22nd September, 2018 election which nullified the candidacy of the PDP gubernatorial flagbearer, Ademola Adeleke.
Diran Odeyemi, has however stated that members of the PDP with genuine interest of the party should not make themselves as tools to be used to hinder the progress the party is making by instituting myriads of litigations against the party.
The stated that, “We consider it inimical to our progress as a vibrant political party the myriad of cases instituted against PDP by members who are expected to be part of the concerted efforts towards being the ruling party in Nigeria. We can’t continue to struggle under the yoke of needless litigations when we intend to return to power both at federal level and in other states that are out of control of PDP at the moment.”
Diran Odeyemi stated that it is the decision of the National Executive Council (NEC) to slam various degrees of sanctions of party members irrespective of their status or positions if they are found to be working to hinder the progress made by the party. He reminded party faithfuls that the decision by the National Executive Council (NEC) is not new as they have taken similar measures by expelling members the party found to working to hinder the party’s progress with senseless litigations.
Diran Odeyemi stated that the party is at the moment following happenings in Lagos, Oyo, Ekiti, Osun and other states throughout the country where members of the party had instituted litigations against the party.
Diran Odeyemi however advised members that when aggrieved, they should explore the party’s internal dispute resolutions mechanisms and assured them that all aggrieved members who try to settle their grievances through the party’s internal dispute resolution mechanism rather than the court will get the justice they desire.
