PDP in fresh crisis as appeal court returns Oyinlola,I remain national secretary

THE Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as been thrown into another round of crisis, as the Court of Appeal, Abuja division, on Wednesday, reversed the sack of Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola as the national secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Oyinlola, it will be recalled, is one of the arrowheads of the New PDP, a splinter group of the party calling for the removal of Alhaji Bamanga Tukur as its chairman.

Some members of the New PDP, including the G7 governors, of recent, were being lured into the All Progressives Congress (APC).

It will be recalled that Justice Abdul Kafarati of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja had sacked Oyinlola from office, based on a suit filed by the Ogun State chapter of the party.

Not satisfied, Oyinlola had approached the Court of Appeal to challenge the said judgment.

Delivering judgment in the appeal, Justice J.T. Tor noted that there were two appeals before the court, while he held that the lower court was wrong to have given a declaratory judgment against a person that was not a party in the suit that led to such judgment.

The court further held that the respondents could not rely on the case cited as there was a clear distinction between the cases, adding that in the case cited, the appellant was a party at the lower court.

The court, therefore, invoked Section 15 of the Court of Appeal Act and held that the lower court had infringed on the fundamental human rights of the appellant to a fair hearing.

Reacting, counsel for the respondents, Ajibola Oluyede said the judgment would be challenged at the Supreme Court.
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