Buruji Kashamu, senator
representing Ogun east, has accused Uche Secondus, chairman of the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP), of promoting illegality.
He said this in reaction to the
choice of Ladi Adebutu as the party’s governorship candidate in 2019.
Kashamu had emerged candidate of
a faction of the PDP which had earlier been dissolved by the party’s national
working committee (NWC).
Following a federal high court
ruling, INEC had accepted the candidates’ list submitted by the Adebayo
Dayo-led faction loyal to Kashamu for the 2019 elections.
The court had ordered INEC to
accept and process the list of candidates and delegates submitted to it by the
Dayo-led faction.
But the leadership of the party
eventually had its way and submitted the name of Adebutu to INEC.
Kashamu has vowed to fight on
till the end, claiming that the action of Secondus and other leader of the
opposition party was illegal.
Below is a statement he
personally signed on the issue:
I write with reference to the
statement credited to the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP), Prince Uche Secondus with regards to the nomination forms wherein he made
some criminal imputations, describing me as an agent of the All Peoples
Congress (APC). I am nobody’s agent. Like Secondus, I am only fighting for my
rights and the rights of my teeming supporters in the PDP.
My initial reaction was to ignore
the statement as an outburst made in a fit of momentary anger. However,
following enquiries made by our supporters and friends across political
divides, I have decided to respond as follows:
As the National Chairman of an
opposition and pan-Nigeria political party, Prince Secondus is supposed to be a
leader and the alter ego of the PDP. Thus, there is a presupposition that he
would project the best that PDP represents. It is not for him to continue carry
on as a serial contemnor through consistent disobedience of subsisting court
judgments under the guise of party supremacy. He cannot continue to act as if
the party is not guided by its own constitution and the Constitution of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria.
It is surprising that while the
leaders and elders of the party as well as its presidential candidate who
believe in the Rule of Law have advised the national leadership of our party to
toe the path of honour, Secondus and his co-travellers decided to go the
inglorious way of impunity and disregard for constituted authorities – in a
desperate bid to accomplish the mercenary job they have been paid to do.
By their conduct, they are
telling Nigerians and members of the PDP that the Party belongs to them and
they can do whatever pleases them. They are saying they are the Alpha and Omega
of the Party; and that they are more powerful than the Constitution of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria. They have always done this to people. But, I want
to make it abundantly clear that, on behalf of all the cheated and oppressed
members of the party, we will fight for our rights till the last.
I urge the judiciary, the
legislature and the executive arms of government to take cognizance of the
happenings in the PDP as they relate to the Ogun State PDP issue. It is not
about me or my supporters. It is about our democracy and respect for the Rule
of Law which are being endangered by the activities of Secondus and his ilk.
Our respectable and well-meaning
leaders and elders must also rise up to the occasion and deal with these
gangsters who do not believe in the Rule of Law but the rule of might and
money. I am referring to Secondus, Elder Yomi Akinhonmi, Kola Ologbodiyan and
Emmanuel Enoidem. More than anyone else, they are the ones bring the party into
disrepute by their actions. Truly, I am not bigger than the party, just as
Secondus is not bigger than the law. Even the Party is not bigger than the law.
But, I know my rights and will always fight for my rights. Secondus and his
co-travellers cannot be protecting their own legacies and be destroying other
people’s legacies.
He said somebody printed forms,
sold the forms and screened himself, describing such actions as criminal. While
not holding brief for the State PDP, I am aware that the PDP is one.
Let me also add that there is
nowhere in our Party’s Constitution or the Electoral Act where the collection
of Nomination Forms from the national headquarters of a political party is made
a condition precedent to validating a candidate’s nomination. All you are
required to do is to signify interest, hold congresses at designated centres
and forward the name of the candidates with the highest number of votes to the
electoral body. It is the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that
issues the nomination forms that is known to law. Any other form by the party
is for administrative convenience. It is NOT statutory.
Section 25 (1) of the PDP
Constitution (as amended in 2017) states, “There shall be a State Party
Congress which shall consist of:
(a)The State Chairman who shall
be the Chairman.
Section 25 (2c) states further,
“The functions of the State Congress shall be to: (c) Elect governorship
candidates of the Party.”
There is a subsisting court
judgment that has resolved the issue of who is the State Chairman of the PDP in
Ogun State and restrained the Party from removing him until he serves out his
four year tenure as guaranteed by our Party’s Constitution. It was the State
Chairman recognized by law and the teeming members of our Party in Ogun State
that presided over the State Congress where the governorship candidate was
elected. The other group has no legitimacy of any sort than to claim national
leadership’s backing as if the power of the national leadership of the party is
absolute.
Mr. Chairman, there is no way you
can confer legitimacy on the illegal Sikirulai Ogundele group or anything it
does, including the purported primaries, which were held in utter disregard of
subsisting court judgments and orders. Nothing could be more criminal that
defying the judiciary. That is why it baffles me now that you are going round
courts to secretly and fraudulently obtain orders from courts even when they do
not have jurisdiction to deal with pre-election matters. In the last few weeks,
you and your minions have filed four suits at the Federal High Court and FCT
High Court – FHC/ABJ/CS/1323/2018; FCT/FT/CV/28/18; FCT/FT/CV/29/18 and
FCT/FT/CV/30/18. You have refused to join us as relevant parties knowing full
well that we had joined issues in different courts on the same issues. We are
at the Federal High Court, Abeokuta; the Court of Appeal, Ibadan and the
Supreme Court which recently struck out, with cost, your application for stay
of execution of the judgment in our favour. It is incongruous and duplicitous
of you, Mr. Chairman to seek judicial cover for your contemptuous acts. Your
calling me names won’t help you. By your conduct, you have consistently shown
utter disdain and disrespect for the judiciary – in a manner that suggests that
you are above the law. Otherwise, why is it difficult for you to obey the
courts’ pronouncements until a superior court says otherwise?
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