The faction said the court ruling was a quit notice on the Tukur leadership.
The Kawu Baraje faction of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, says Wednesday’s reinstatement of Olagunsoye Oyinlola as the party’s National Secretary by the Court of Appeal is a quit notice on the National Chairman of the party, Bamanga Tukur, and members of the National Working Committee, NWC.
The faction also demanded Mr. Oyinlola’s inauguration on Monday next week.
The Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, had set aside the January 11 judgement of the Federal High Court, which sacked Mr. Oyinlola, who on August 31 was named the National Secretary of the Baraje faction, also known as “New PDP.”
The faction, in a statement by its spokesperson, Chukwuemeka Eze, said it received the judgement with great joy and gratitude, adding that it had once again reinforced its belief in the judiciary as the bastion of democracy and the last hope of the common man.
“We once again commend and congratulate the judiciary for taking a firm stand for the truth in the face of the plot by some unpatriotic elements to cause confusion in the PDP with a view to destroying this great institution which some of us have laboured for many years to build,” it stated.
“This is just one of the anomalies we have been complaining of that came about due to lack of internal democracy in our party occasioned by the undemocratic elements that hijacked the structure of our party and we are relying so much on the Judiciary to help us in addressing other anomalies that gave rise to our present struggle and restore hope back to our party.
“With this judgment, we hope that very soon our other court cases asking for the dissolution of the Tukur-led NWC would be given the same serious attention to enable us formally take over the reins of our party and restore it to the path of honour, justice and democratic norms which Tukur and his cohorts have bastardised.”
The faction said Mr. Oyinlola, who it described as a “cat with nine lives,” was ready and determined to rebuild the ruling party.
It further stated that its move to sack the members of the NWC led by Mr. Tukur was necessary so as to create room for the replacement of the current members with party leaders who would join in rebuilding the party, which it claimed had suffered so much in the hands of the national chairman.
The splinter group sympathized with the incumbent National Secretary, Wale Oladipo, whom it said had achieved an unenviable record as the shortest reigning secretary since the formation of the party in 1998.
It urged Mr. Oladipo to “find something better to do and leave politics to politicians and return to the academic world to do what he knows best.”
Reacting to a statement credited to the PDP National Legal Adviser, Victor Kwom that the party was still studying the judgement reinstating Mr. Oyinlola, the Kawu Baraje faction asked him to discontinue because it was very clear to even a lay man. It asked him to set in motion machinery for Mr. Oyinlola’s swearing-in next Monday.
“The National Legal Adviser who saw to Prof Wale Oladipo swearing in within 24 hours after his own court victory should apply the same treatment to the authentic National Secretary of PDP and stop portraying our party as a lawless party by attempting to delay his swearing in ceremony in obedience to a court ruling aimed at repositioning our party,” it added.
The faction thanked some members of the Tukur-led NWC and most of the staff of the national secretariat who it said “called to congratulate Prince Oyinlola and want him to be sworn-in today.”
It added, “However, as we have already told them privately, that would not be possible as Prince Oyinlola is presently not in Abuja. Monday, 11th November, 2013 is okay as the swearing-in date and we are preparing to storm the PDP National Secretariat to claim what rightfully belongs to us.”
While congratulating Mr. Oyinlola for the victory as the Appeal Court, the Baraje faction urged him “not to be corrupted by the undemocratic toxic that may have been dropped in his office by Prof. Oladipo as many Nigerians look up to him to not only to restore hope to the PDP but to also use his magic wand to unify the party.
“We are happy of sending him back to the Wadata Plaza in advance as our present day John the Baptist to prepare and to announce to the world of our arrival as the authentic NWC of our great party within the next few weeks.”
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