PDP Explains Why APC No Longer A Political Party ‘Legally’

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has described the All Progressives Congress (APC) as non-existent and that it expects the National Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) to withdraw the ruling party’s certificate of registration.

According to the PDP, a party without a National Working Committee, National Executive Committee and a Board of Trustees should not be allowed to operate.

Advertisement

Kola Ologbondiyan, national spokesperson for the PDP, stated this during Arise TV’s magazine television programme ‘Good Morning Show’ on Thursday.

He made the statement while responding to a question on if the PDP sees the split judgment of the Supreme Court in which Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, narrowly escaped sacking from office as an opportunity for the party to challenge other elections won by APC governors.

“If you have been following the trajectory of our narrative on the issue of Mai Mala Buni, [you will know that] the PDP was the first to come out declare that he is not fit and that any action that is taken by his committee would be a nullity.

“We did that immediately after President Muhammadu Buhari dissolved their National Executive Committee, National Working Committee and all the structure of the party and we said look, your party has ceased to exist.”

Advertisement

Ologbondiyan said had the PDP attempted what President Buhari did, “INEC would have withdrawn our certificate. And our expectation from INEC today is to withdraw the certificate of the APC.

“Statutorily they don’t longer exist and we don’t know how they would come out from the crisis as we speak, because they have no statutory body that can act on behalf of the party or even write an ordinary letter to anywhere.

“It goes beyond even the issue of Akeredolu, I think that the (Supreme Court) judgement only made a point which we latched on as a party and said look…. this was what we told you people that time that you’re no longer a political party. How can you have a party that doesn’t have a National Working Committee, that doesn’t have a NEC or Board of Trustees. They never had a Board of Trustees and all their structures down right to the ward level are dissolved.”

THE WHISTLER recalls that the PDP had sought court’s declaration that Akeredolu’s candidacy in the Ondo governorship election is invalid on the grounds that the governor and his deputy were not duly nominated by the APC.

The opposition party had argued that the Buni-led caretaker committee, which supervised the process that led to Akeredolu’s emergence as APC’s candidate in the October 10, 2020 governorship election, was illegal.

Advertisement

It had argued that the provision of section 183 of the 1999 constitution (as amended) forbids a sitting governor from holding any other executive office or paid employment in whatever capacity.

But four out of the seven-member panel of the Supreme Court had voted to uphold Akeredolu’s victory, while the three others held that Akeredolu’s candidacy was invalid.

Some legal and political pundits had noted that PDP’s failure to join Buni in their suit gave Governor Akeredolu the narrow escape.

Ologbondiyan, during the Arise TV interview, also spoke on PDP’s decision to ask the court to declare vacant the seat of Zamfara State Governor, Bello Matawalle, for dumping the party after winning election on its platform.

“…Yes, we went to court in the case of Matawalle and we are confident of victory in that matter.  However, the fact that we have not gone to the court in the other states does not foreclose the fact that we might still go to court and challenge the process of their defection,” he said.

According to Ologbodiyan, the PDP would also ask the court declare vacant the seats of federal lawmakers who won election on its platform and later defected to the APC.

Advertisement

He noted that the constitution forbids any elected political office holder from defecting from their party when there is no crisis to justify their exit from such party, stressing that “…the party has taken a decision to go to court on the matter of every seat which defection has happened.”

Leave a comment

Advertisement