Senator Buruji Kashamu (PDP, Ogun State) on Wednesday won another court case against Hon. Ladi Adebutu, whose faction of the Ogun State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had been challenging his candidacy as the party’s gubernatorial candidate.
A Federal High Court dismissed Adebutu’s request to recognise his faction of the PDP as the authentic side, given the support he has from the national secretariat of the party. The court also affirmed the Engr. Bayo Dayo-led Ogun State Executive Committee of PDP as the legally recognised chapter of the party.
Kashamu’s spokesman, Austin Oniyokor, in a statement said, “The Federal High Court, Abeokuta, on Wednesday dismissed a suit filed by a member of the House of Representatives, Honourable Oladipupo Adebutu challenging the nomination of Senator Buruji Kashamu as the Governorship Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun State.
“Delivering judgment in the case which Adebutu filed against Kashamu’s nomination, the Presiding Judge, Justice Abubakar Shittu held that the case was statute-barred having been caught up with the 4th Alteration.
” The Court held that the cause of action arose on the 12th of April, 2018, whereas the suit was filed in December 2018. The court further held that the Plaintiffs (PDP and its officers) are estopped from relitigating the issue of who has power to conduct primary elections of the PDP in Ogun State and submit the list of candidates.
“According to the court, the case was an abuse of court process. On the originating summons, the court held that the reliefs sought cannot be granted because the national leadership of PDP conducted its primaries in flagrant violation of the judgment of the court in Suit No. FHC/L/CS/636/2016.
“The primaries were illegal. The power of the PDP NEC to sell nominations forms cannot be exercised because the judgment in Suit No. FHC/L/CS/636/2016 empowered the state EXCO to conduct primaries.”
Oniyokor quoted Kashamu as saying that, “There was no victor, no vanquished. We are all members of the same PDP family. We are better and stronger together in PDP. What is most important is that we are working together, holding reconciliation meetings and strategising together. We are set to deliver the state to PDP on Saturday, the 9th of March, 2019.”
But a distraught member of the Alhaji Sikirulahi Ogundele faction, Olumuyiwa Odusami, lamented that, “I knew this was going to happen, and it means end of the road for us in this Saturday election. Personally, I have made up my mind that PDP is no longer the party for me, because I cannot belong to Kashamu’s party.”
Uhuru Times observed that PDP members loyal to Adebutu are divided on the next line of action to take. While some are of the view that they should rally round Kashamu for victory in Saturday’s gubernatorial election, two other sides of the faction believe otherwise.
A source close to Adebutu, who insisted he was speaking the minds of the people politician’s loyalists said, “We know Oga (Adebutu) has been talking to Amosun, which many of us do not like at all. The options on the table are just two: support Kashamu or join APC to fulfill our promise to the people that an Amosun stooge should not be the next governor of Ogun State. Rest assured that our decision, with or without the approval of Adebutu will be made known within the next 48 hours.”
Source: https://www.uhurutimes.com/ogun-state-kashamu-floors-adebutu-again-now-authentic-face-of-pdp/
