The three-man panel chaired by Justice
Amiru Sanusi upturned the January 11 judgment of the Federal High court,
Abuja, which sacked him.
Justice Abdul Kafarati had declared that
Oyinlola’s nomination and subsequent election as the National Secretary
of PDP were invalid, null and void.
He relied on the order and two separate
judgments of the Federal High Court, Lagos that nullified the South-West
PDP zonal congress that produced him as candidate for the national
convention in March 2012.
The trial judge gave the verdict in a suit by the Ogun State Executive Committee of the party.
Dissatisfied, Oyinlola approached the Court of Appeal, Abuja, asking it to set aside the judgment.
In its judgment on Wednesday, the
appellate court said the judgment of the Federal High Court, Lagos
relied on to remove Oyinlola was not binding on him because he was not a
party in the suit.
Justice Joseph Pine Pur, held that the
judgment of the Federal High Court, Abuja, was null and void because
Oyinlola was denied a fair hearing in the Lagos suit relied on to sack
him.
Besides, the court held that the
judgment of the Federal High Court, Abuja, could not stand because the
suit which led to the order was a multiplicity of action and therefore
constituted an abuse of court process.
The panel noted that the suit was the
third one filed by the plaintiffs to enforce the judgment of the Federal
High Court, Lagos, which nullified the South West zonal congress.
In its third reason, the panel noted
that Oyinlola had already filed a motion for stay of the Lagos judgment
at the Court of Appeal, Lagos, as at the time the Ogun SEC of the PDP
filed a suit to enforce the judgment in Abuja.
Reacting to the judgment, counsel for
the Ogun SEC, Ajibola Oluyede, said there was no evidence to support the
reasons given by the Court of Appeal.
He said his clients would appeal the judgment at the Supreme Court to maintain status quo.
Oyinlola had contended that the judgment delivered by Justice Kafarati was against the weight of evidence before the court.
He said the trial judge erred in law when he overruled his preliminary objection and assumed jurisdiction in the suit.
According to him, the court does not
have the jurisdiction to hear the case because the defendants are not
agencies of the Federal Government.
Oyinlola also contended that the subject
matter of the suit was an intra-party dispute which clearly was not
justiciable, adding that the Federal High Court and indeed no court of
law had jurisdiction over the subject matter of the suit.
He submitted that the judge erred in law
when the court disregarded the ruling of the Lagos Division of the
Court of Appeal in CA/35/12 delivered on June 25, 2012.
He therefore asked the appellate court
for an order reversing the judgment of the trial judge and substituting
thereto an order striking out and or dismissing the entire action with
costs.
Justice Kafarati had held that the suit
was not an intra-party affair of the party as claimed by (Oyinlola) but a
cause of action seeking the interpretation of the two separate
judgments of the Federal High Court, Lagos, which nullified the zonal
congress.
He said the suit did “not constitute an
abuse of court process” therefore it is “justiciable,” adding “the
action discloses reasonable cause of action.”
“On the whole, the two preliminary
objections are dismissed. All the three questions are answered in the
affirmative and the reliefs sought granted,” he declared.
The Ogun State PDP Chairman, Adebayo
Dayo, and Alhaji Semiu Sodipo (Secretary) for and on behalf of other
state’s officers, had challenged the retention of Oyinlola as a PDP
national officer.
By the nullification of the South West
zonal congress that produced Oyinlola as candidate, the plaintiffs
contended that Oyinlola had since ceased to be the national secretary of
the party.
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