Court Orders INEC To Replace Oyinlola With Oladipo The Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered INEC and the PDP to recognise Professor Adewale Oladipo as the PDP’s National Secretary, and also directed the PDP to within 3 days rectify its records to reflect the replacement of former Osun state Governor, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola with Prof Adewale Oladipo. Justice Abdulkadir Abdu-Kafarati in a ruling today, also held that the nomination of Professor Adewale Oladipo at the extra-ordinary southwest zonal congress of the PDP which held in Ibadan on the 13th of July was proper and followed due compliance. The court was ruling in an application filed for and on behalf of the officers of the Ogun State Chapter of the PDP. It will be recalled that on the 11th of January, the Federal High Court in a judgment had held that the former Osun State Governor, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola was not validly nominated to the position of the national secretary of the PDP. The court therefore ordered his removal and directed the conduct of a fresh congress by the Southwest PDP for the purpose of nominating a replacement. After the conduct of the fresh congress which returned Professor Adewale Oladipo, the executives of the Ogun state PDP, led by Chief Adebayo Dayo and Alhaji Semiu Sodipo had brought a fresh application to show that they had complied with the January 11th judgment. Justice Abdul-Kafarati in granting their reliefs first rejected the arguments by the defendants; Oyinlola and PDP who were not present in court for the ruling. The court did not agree with the defendants that it was finished with the case after delivering judgment especially as the judge held that the fresh application was not meant to reopen the case neither was it to effect changes to the earlier delivered judgment, but to regularise the steps taken in compliance with the judgment. Justice Abdu- Kafarati also held that there was no evidence before the court to show that the records of Prince Oyinlola’s appeal of the January 11 judgment which removed him had been transmitted to the Court of Appeal. In its ruling, the court first granted an extension to July 13 this year, the time limit for the conduct of the zonal congress which produced Professor Adewale Oladipo. Then the court deemed his nomination as proper and in due compliance with the judgment of January 11th. The defendants were not in court but here’s the reaction of Professor Oladipo whose nomination has now been recognized by the court.
Posted on: Sat, 28 Sep 2013 05:57:14 +0000