Ogun State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to ignore the party’s National Chairman, Uche Secondus, over the candidates’ list it earlier accepted on those eligible to contest various offices in the 2019 polls in the state.
In a letter to the INEC through its lawyer, Dr. Alex Izinyon (SAN) on Monday, the party said the commission should not rescind its decision to accept list of candidates from the Adebayo Dayo-led executive.
It added that the commission should continue “to accord respect and validity to the subsisting judgement and the orders of the Federal High Court in Suit No. FHC/L/CS/636/2016 and FHC/AB/CS/114/2018 as you rightly did.”
Daily Trust recalls that the electoral umpire had accepted the candidates’ list submitted by Dayo-led PDP, which was backed by a Senator representing Ogun East, Buruji Kashamu, against the list from the Sikirullahi Ogundele-led faction which is recognised by the National Working Committee of the PDP.
In accepting Kashamu’s list, INEC had said it acted in compliance with the two judgements from the Federal High Court.
Izinyon said the letter became necessary following some letters written to the commission by Secondus and the National Secretary of PDP, Senator Umar Ibrahim Tsauri on the controversy on the two candidates’ lists from two factions of PDP.
He said the PDP Constitution empowers the State Executive Committee to conduct congresses under the supervision of the State Chairman.
“The issue of who has the power to conduct primaries and submission of list of nominated candidates for Ogun State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party was no longer an issue which in ordinary case would have resided on the national body but has been settled and laid to rest in FHC/L/CS/636/2016.
“There is no difficulty in obeying and enforcing this settled position by the Court as shown in Suit No:FHC/L/CS/636/2016 which granted our clients’ reliefs and giving the legal stamp to Engr. Adebayo Dayo the 1stPlaintiff as the Chairman to function in that capacity and carry on all the functions of the State Party Congress as Chairman which functions includes to elect Governorship candidates of the Party,” he stated in the letter.
