One of the widows of the late Chief MKO Abiola, Professor Akasoba Duke-Abiola, a PDP member, who filed the suit, Wednesday, through her lawyer, Mr. Festus Keyamo, alleged that the party was trying to field President Jonathan in violation of the party’s constitution.
Citing the provisions of
Article 3(1) (a) of the Electoral Guidelines for Primary Elections 2014 of the
PDP, Duke-Abiola said all aspirants for the office of President were entitled
to Expression of Interest Form Code PD 002/P upon payment of prescribed
non-refundable fee of N2million only.
Maintaining that she paid
the N2million fee for the Expression of Interest Form on the October 27, she
said she was the first person to pay for the form and copy of the payment slip
was submitted to the party’s secretariat same day.
In an affidavit in support
of the suit, the plaintiff said: “That upon issuance of the receipt by the
Party, I was ushered into the office of the National Organising Secretary, who
congratulated me and asked me to come back on 28 October, 2014 and meet the
National Chairman so that he could officially hand over the Expression of
Interest Form to me being a Presidential Aspirant, the highest political office
in the Party.
“That upon this assurance,
I pleaded with my thousands of supporters, who had followed me to the Party
Secretariat to obtain the Expression of Interest Form to wait till the next day
being the 28th day of October, 2014.
“That I went back on the
said 28th day of October, 2014, as directed, but the security agents at the
entrance gate of the PDP refused to allow me gain entry into the secretariat
and were very hostile to me and my supporters. It took the intervention of
senior police officers for me to be allowed entrance into the secretariat.
“That when I eventually
gained entrance into the secretariat, I met the National Chairman of the party
in his office amongst some governors, who in turn directed me to meet the
National Secretary of the Party to give me the Expression of Interest Form.
“That when I met the
National Secretary of the 1st Defendant, he informed me that the Party did not
have any Expression of Interest Form to give to me.
“That he further informed
me that the party had printed only one Expression of Interest Form, which I
demanded that he gave to me since I was the only person that had paid for the
Form as at that time.
“That the National
Secretary of the party expressly told me that the sole Form available was meant
for President Goodluck Jonathan only, who has been adopted by the National
Working Committee and the Board of Trustees of the partt as the sole/consensus
candidate of the Party.”
The plaintiff said when she
met the National Chairman of the party and told him that the form was not given
to her, the Chairman, “expressly told me that the party will not give me the
Form as the only Form printed had been reserved only for President Goodluck
Jonathan, and further advised that I should leave the premises of the 1st
Defendant.”
Duke-Abiola is therefore
asking the court to hold that by virtue of Section 50(1) of PDP Constitution,
Section 87(1) & (9)) of the Electoral Act, 2010, the party is under an
obligation to comply with all the rules made under the “Electoral Guidelines
for Primary Elections 2014 of the PDP”.
She is also praying the
court to hold that by virtue of Article 3 (1) (a) and (b), “Electoral
Guidelines for Primary Elections, 2014 of the PDP”, that she was entitled to
obtain the Expression of Interest Form in relation to presidential primaries of
PDP having paid the mandatory sum of N2million.
She further asked the court
to declare that the failure, refusal or neglect of the party to make available
to her the Expression of Interest Form code no PD 002/P, despite repeated
demands and upon payment of the mandatory N2million is a breach of Article
3(1)(a) and (b) of the “Electoral Guidelines for Primary Elections 2014 of the
PDP.
The plaintiff also asked
the court to declare that in view of Section 87 (1), (7) and (9) of the
Electoral Act, 2010, the PDP could not lawfully hold a valid primaries to
nominate a presidential candidate for the purpose of 2015 general elections.
She wants the court to also
declare that: “having failed to comply with the “Electoral Guidelines for
Primary Elections 2014 of the PDP”, and in view of the provision of section
87(9) of the Electoral Act, 2010, the PDP cannot validly field any candidate
for the Presidential Election in 2015.
TheWill
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