The Alhaji Bamanga Tukur faction of the Peoples Democratic Party, on Friday, asked an Abuja Federal High Court to restrain the Abubakar Baraje faction from parading itself as the national executive of the party.
The Tukur faction filed the application through its lawyer, Tochukwu Onwugbufor, SAN.
The plaintiffs included Tukur and the PDP national officers elected at the party’s August 31, 2013, national convention at the Eagle Square, in Abuja.
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However, the court, headed by Justice Elvis Chukwu, did not grant the ex parte motion. Instead, it ordered the two factions to maintain status quo, pending the hearing and determination of the substantive suit.
Justice Chukwu also ordered the Tukur faction to put the Baraje faction on notice.
The judge, in the same vein, ordered that the respondents be served with the motion on notice through substituted means.
The respondents in the suit are Baraje, Sam Jaja, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, Atiku Abubakar and the Independent National Electoral Commission.
When the application was moved, Justice Chukwu stated that, rather than grant the motion, he would order that the respondents be put on notice to appear before the court.
The judge explained that he took the decision in order to maintain “a balance,” and also to avoid causing anarchy in the polity.
He said, “Although I am not afraid of granting an ex parte application, especially when it is obvious of causing anarchy, however, I owe a duty to maintain a balance.
“What I want to do is order that the respondents are put on notice.”
He also ordered that the parties should maintain the status quo, pending the determination of the suit.
Justice Chukwu consequently fixed September 12, 2013 for the hearing of the motion on notice.
In the motion on notice, the Tukur faction asked the court to restrain members of the Baraje group from parading themselves as PDP national executives on the grounds that they were not elected.
The Baraje faction, also known as the New PDP, are backed by seven governors -Sule Lamido (Jigawa), Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano), Murtala Nyako (Adamawa), Babangida Aliyu (Niger), Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto), Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara) and Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers).
The New PDP had earlier asked INEC to deregister Tukur’s PDP for allegedly failing to comply with section 222(d) of the 1999 Constitution, which requires a political party to notify the electoral commission of an alteration in its constitution.
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