A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has barred the National Executive Committee (NEC) and the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) from removing Amb. Umar Ilya Damagum as the Acting National Chairman of the party.
Justice Peter Lifu ordered that no other person must be recognized as PDP national chairman other than Damagum until the national convention of the party scheduled for December 2025.
According to Articles 42, 47, and 67 of the PDP, only the party’s national convention can elect national officers.
Sen. Umar El-Gash Maina filed the suit FHC/ABJ/CS/579/2024, in which Justice Lifu stated that PDP members must always act in accordance with the party’s Constitution and adhere to its laws.
The plaintiff, who claimed to be chairman of PDP in Yobe State, had instituted the suit against PDP and eight others, alleging that some stakeholders of the party have been holding clandestine meetings to forcefully remove Damagum from office in gross violation of the party’s Constitution.
He said that a former Deputy Governor of Kogi State, Dr. Phillip Omeiza Salawu, was being pushed forward as a replacement for Damagun by the stakeholders.
When Maina learned of the plan, he delivered two separate letters to Sen. Samuel Anyanwu, the party’s national secretary, complaining about the clandestine meetings.
Despite acknowledging the two letters, the National Secretary and BoT members never felt it was appropriate to act on the letters and their claims.
In the suit instituted on his behalf by Mr. Joshua Musa (SAN), the plaintiff therefore prayed the court to invoke Articles 45, 47, and 67 of the PDP Constitution to stop the move to replace Damagum as the Acting National Chairman.
The plaintiff specifically asked the court to rule that the PDP’s national chairmanship rotates between the north and south regions, not through any other process not specified in the party’s constitution.
In his judgment after perusing the PDP’s Constitution and exhibits, Justice Lifu agreed with the plaintiff that Damagum can only be replaced at the national convention of the PDP or through an order of a court.
Justice Lifu also held that any attempt to truncate the unexhausted four-year tenure of the northern region without the national convention of the party will amount to an affront to the Constitution of the PDP.
Previous to dismissing the defendants’ opposition to the suit, the judge ruled that the plaintiff lacked locus standi and the court lacked jurisdiction.
Justice Lifu ruled that the plaintiff based his lawsuit on safeguarding the PDP Constitution from infringement and preventing the northern region of his origin from experiencing a reduction in its four-year term.
Justice Lifu said that the plaintiff, having displayed his PDP membership card before the court and having raised the fundamental issue of protection under the PDP’s Constitution, had sufficient interest and justiciable cause to institute the case.
The judge, therefore, declared that PDP NEC and BoT are bound by the party’s Constitution and that Damagum as national chairman can only be replaced through the national convention of the party.
He also held that Damagum, having been appointed from the northern region where the former national chairman Sen. Iyorcha Ayu hailed from, is entitled to serve out the remaining tenure of the national chairman.
Persecondnews recalls that a faction of the PDP’s National Working Committee took a dramatic step on Friday, suspending Damagum and Anyanwu.
The suspension comes on the heels of the earlier suspension of National Publicity Secretary Debo Ologunagba and National Legal Adviser Kamaldeen Ajibade, who urged Damagum to uphold the party’s constitution.
