POLITICS: Again, Justice Abang suspends PDP’s convention

Again, a Federal High Court in Abuja presided over by Justice Okon Abang on Monday stopped the Peoples Democratic Party from going ahead with its convention.

Ahmed Makarfi-led faction of the party had slated Thursday August 17, for its national convention, but Abang during the proceedings that lasted eight hours on Monday ruled that the interim order would subsist till the motion filed by the Ali Modu Sheriff-led faction seeking an interlocutory injunction against the convention is heard and determined.

He fixed Tuesday for the hearing of the Sherif faction’s motion for interlocutory injunction.

Abang made the order after he had joined Makarfi and six other members of his Caretaker Committee as parties to the substantive suit which was filed last month by the Sheriff and members of his faction.

The judge had on July 28 heard Markafi-led faction’s application to join the suit as a defendant and fixed Monday for ruling.

‎The judge set aside Sheriff’s faction’s opposition to the application and ordered that Markafi and the rest of the applicants be joined as the third to the ninth defendants.

Aside Makarfi who was joined as the third defendant, Ben Obi, Odion Ugbesia, Abdul Ningi, Kabiru Usman, Dayo Adeyeye, Aisha Aliyu, were joined as the fourth to the ninth defendants.

In granting the interim injunction on Monday, Abang lambasted Ben Obi for allegedly rushing to the Port Harcourt Division of the Federal High Court to obtain an ex parte order directing security agencies and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to monitor the scheduled convention.

He said the act by Obi to “secretly” obtain another order at Port Hacourt to let the convention go ahead when the ruling of the court on the application filed by him and others seeking to be joined in the suit as parties was being awaited was a slap on the court’s face.