The
leadership crisis within the opposing People's Democratic Party seems
unending as Ali Modu Sheriff seems to bar all litigation process.
Ali Modu Sheriff
The Ali Modu Sheriff faction of the Peoples Democratic Party, on
Thursday, asked the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal to adjourn
indefinitely the various appeals relating to the leadership tussle
between it and the rival faction of the party led by Ahmed Makarfi,
Punch reports.
The Sheriff faction, represented by its lawyer, Chief Akin Olujinmi
(SAN), urged the Justice Ibrahim Saulawa-led panel of the appeal court
to put the hearing of the three appeals before it on hold, pending when
the Port Harcourt Division of the court would deliver its reserved
judgment on a similar case.
The Port Harcourt Division has yet to fix a date for its reserved judgment.
The three pending appeals before the Abuja Division, one of which
was filed by Makarfi and the two others filed by his faction of the PDP,
are with numbers, CA/A/402/2016; CA/A/402A/2016 and CA/A/402D/M/2016.
The appeals are mainly challenging the ruling of Justice Okon Abang
of the Federal High Court in Abuja delivered on June 30, 2016
recognising Sheriff faction of the party as the one with authority to
brief lawyers to represent the party in any court matter.
The Sheriff faction is represented as the first and second
respondents in the three pending appeals before the Abuja Division by
two members of the party in Ondo and Edo states, Chief Benson Akingboye
and Ehiozuwa Agbonayinma, respectively.
The Independent National Electoral Commission is the third
respondent in the appeals. Olujinmi informed the three-man panel of the
appeal court in Abuja on Thursday that he had filed a motion seeking the
indefinite adjournment of the appeals in order to avoid the possibility
of the court giving a decision that would conflict with that of Port
Harcourt Division.
He said, “After reading all the processes in these appeals and
those filed before the Port Harcourt Division, the central issue running
through all of them has to do with the leadership of the PDP.
“Instead of dissipating energy to hear the appeals and opening
another avenue for conflicting decisions of this court and the Port
Harcourt Division, we took the view that the best thing to do is to
implore your lordship to adjourn these appeals to await the reserved
judgment of the Port Harcourt Division.
“The Court of Appeal is expected to resolve a number of
conflicting decisions of the Federal High Court on this issue. The Court
of Appeal should not run into the same problem.”
Counsel for Makarfi, the appellant in one of the three pending
appeals, Mr. Yunus Ustaz (SAN), informed the court that he had been
served with Olujinmi’s motion and had responded to it.
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