Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja has issued a restraining order preventing the National Executive Committee (NEC) and Board of Trustees (BoT) of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) from removing Umar Illiya Damagum as the Acting National Chairman of the party.
This ruling follows an earlier move by a faction of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC), which on Friday morning suspended both Damagum and the party’s national secretary, Senator Samuel Anyanwu.
However, the court ruled that no individual other than Damagum should be recognised as the PDP’s national chairman until the party’s national convention, scheduled for December next year.
Justice Lifu delivered the ruling in response to a lawsuit brought forward by Senator Umar El-Gash Maina, in which the court affirmed that, in accordance with Articles 42, 47, and 67 of the PDP Constitution, national officers can only be elected at the party's National Convention.
The judge further stated that members of the PDP are obligated to follow the party’s Constitution and must act within its legal framework, underscoring that any deviation would be a breach of internal governance.
The plaintiff, who is the PDP Chairman in Yobe State, had filed the suit against the party and eight others, claiming that certain stakeholders had been holding covert meetings aimed at unlawfully removing Damagum from his position, in violation of the party’s Constitution.
Justice Lifu also held that any attempt to truncate un-exhausted four years tenure of the northern region without the national convention of the party will amount to an affront to the Constitution of the PDP.
