Court Proceedings Focus on Rivers State Chapter of PDP’s Suit Against Acting National Chairman and NWC Members
In a recent session, the Federal High Court in Abuja, presided over by Justice Peter Lifu, adjourned until January 13, 2025, a lawsuit initiated by the Rivers State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) loyal to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike. The suit targets the party’s Acting National Chairman, Umar Damagum, along with other key members of the National Working Committee (NWC).
The court granted the adjournment following a request by the respondents’ legal representatives, who sought additional time to file and organize their processes in the suit. The suit, identified as FHC/ABJ/CS/1396/2024, was filed by Aaron Chukwuemeka, Oye Fubara Igenewari, and ThankGod Bekee, representing themselves and the executive committees (EXCOs) at the state, local government, and ward levels. They seek a court order to restrain the NWC from dissolving the State Executive Committee (SEC) of the PDP in Rivers State.
The plaintiffs’ motion lists the PDP, along with Umar Damagum, Samuel Anyanwu (the party’s secretary), Umar Bature, the NWC, the National Executive Committee (NEC), and the Board of Trustees (BOT) as the 1st to 7th respondents. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and Alhaji Bala Mohammed, chairman of the PDP Governors Forum, are also named as the 8th and 9th respondents, respectively.
Previously, on September 24, Justice Lifu issued a restraining order against the PDP’s national leadership. This was in response to an ex-parte motion filed by the plaintiffs through their counsel, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Joshua Musa, who requested the court to block any moves by the party’s leadership to replace the Rivers State SEC with interim committees. The restraining order also extended to prevent the PDP from appointing any temporary committees at various levels of the state party structure until the substantive suit is resolved.
During the Tuesday session, the plaintiffs’ counsel, Musa, moved to regularize the plaintiffs’ processes in response to recent applications from the defense, which the court accepted without opposition. On the defendants’ side, SAN Sunday Ameh, recently briefed on the case, filed a memorandum of conditional appearance for the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th defendants and requested an adjournment to allow additional time for case preparation. Similarly, SAN Emmanuel Enoidem, representing the PDP Governors Forum (the 9th respondent), also requested an adjournment.
With no objections from the plaintiffs or other lawyers present, Justice Lifu granted the adjournment and scheduled the case for further hearing on January 13, 2025.
