The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Oyinlola

  • Tukur, Oyinlola in war of words

    Tukur, Oyinlola in war of words

    National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Bamanga Tukur and National Secretary of the New PDP, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola yesterday traded words over the protracted PDP crisis.

    A statement by Tukur’s media aide, Prince Oliver Okpala, described Oyinlola as incompetent with his style of politics at variance with the current political dispensation in the country.

    But Oyinlola replied that the party chairman should be excused on account of his old age and senility. He added that Tukur has been inconsistent and has exhibited poor leadership qualities.

    “I remember he once granted an interview in which he described me as a fine officer and a gentleman. This same view was expressed by Olisa Metuh in a media interview recently. His statement shows inconsistency and poor leadership qualities”, Oyinlola said in a statement yesterday.

    The party chairman also accused Oyinlola of always getting into elective positions through the “back door”, citing his ouster as Governor of Osun State by the court and his removal from office as national secretary of the PDP.

    The statement further accused Oyinlola of directing his frustrations at Tukur since he was removed as national secretary, arguing however that Tukur was not responsible for his travails.

    Tukur said: “Under normal circumstance, he should not be heard to resort to platitudes or righteous pontifications on the ideals of democracy and the rule of law. This is because by training and orientation, he is a slave to Order and Command of the Military.

    “It will be recalled that Oyinlola was smuggled in as the National Secretary of the PDP, when he was bereft of the basic competence, experience and the pedigree to hold such a sensitive position in a big political organization like the PDP.

  • Wamakko, Lamido, Kwankwaso, others to lose seats – Tukur

    Wamakko, Lamido, Kwankwaso, others to lose seats – Tukur

    . . . Atiku, Oyinlola, Baraje risk expulsion

     The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, has vowed to ensure that governors and National Assembly members that joined the Abubakar Baraje led breakaway faction of the party lose their seats.

    Similarly, Tukur said other PDP chieftains that joined the faction would be expelled from the ruling party.

    At a press conference he addressed at the party’s secretariat on Wednesday, the PDP chairman described leaders of the breakaway faction as impostors, saying that security agencies have been detailed to treat them as such.

    He said: “Consequently, we shall ensure that any person who is not duly elected into any leadership position in our great party and has not been duly assigned any role but goes ahead to arrogate such to himself will be made to face the full wrath of the law.

    “Similarly, all persons elected on the platform of our great party at all levels who identify with these enemies of the oneness and greatness of our party shall have their seats declared vacant as required by law.

    “We shall leave no stone unturned to ensure that such persons and indeed any other individual who attempts to subvert the leadership of the PDP shall reap in full, the consequences of such actions.”

    Stating that the PDP has no faction, Tukur said there was neither room nor reason whatsoever for such a claim under any guise.

    “The PDP has only one duly elected National Executive Committee (NEC) under my chairmanship. I wish therefore to state with all emphasis that any group of persons parading themselves as leaders of NEC or any other organ of our party are impostors and I urge all Nigerians, especially the security agencies and other institutions of democracy to regard them as such.

    “Let me state categorically that the PDP as the sole custodian of the sacred mandate of over 160 million Nigerians and who in the last fourteen years has lifted high the banner of democracy will not fold its arms while some undemocratic and unpatriotic elements destroy our common destiny by causing divisions and confusion among the people.

    “There is only one lawfully recognised PDP and I am firmly in charge, “Tukur declared.

     

     

  • Southwest PDP urges court to effect Oyinlola’s replacement

    Southwest PDP urges court to effect Oyinlola’s replacement

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the Southwest has urged the Federal High Court, Abuja to endorse its substitution of Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola with Prof. Adewale Oladipo as its National Secretary.

    The party, in a motion on notice filed yesterday, said its action was in compliance with the court’s judgment of January 11, this year, sacking Oyinlola as the party’s National Secretary because he was not validly nominated by the Southwest chapter of the PDP.

    The party pleaded with the court to direct its national body and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to amend their records to reflect the new changes.

    The application seeks the following prayers:

    •An order extending the time limited by the judgment of the court dated January 11 for the conduct of a valid congress of the Southwest zone chapter of the 2nd defendant (PDP)for the purposes of nominating a candidate for the office of National Secretary of the 2nd defendant, to replace the 1st defendant (Oyinlola) removed pursuant to the judgment, till July 13.

    •An order deeming the nomination of Prof. Oladipo by the extra-ordinary Southwest Zonal Congress of the PDP held in Ibadan on July 13 as proper and due compliance with the said judgment of the court for the purpose of the replacement of the 1st defendant in the office of National Secretary .

    The application filed by Chief Adebayo Dayo, Semiu Sodipo (for themselves and on behalf of the PDP) has Oyinlola, PDP and INEC as defendants.

    The plaintiffs said, in a supporting affidavit, that although the orders contained in the January 11 judgment were still valid, their motion was informed by the fact while the court ordered Oyinlola’s replacement within 21 days of the judgment, compliance was immediately impossible because of the internal crisis in the party.

    “ The Southwest Zonal Congress could not be conducted due to internal disharmony in the Southwest and failure to convene a quorum of its Executive Committee.

    “Following the appointment of a Caretaker Committee for the Southwest Zone of the 2nd defendant the process of reconciliation towards the Congress commenced.

    “An Extra-ordinary Southwest Zonal Congress of the 2nd defendant was thereafter validly convened by the Caretaker Committee and conducted without rancor or disagreement on July 13.

    “That the congress was conducted outside the time limited by the judgment of the court.

    “That the delay was not due to any disrespect to this honourable court.

    “That Prof. Oladipo was validly and unanimously nominated to replace the 1st defendant in the office of National Secretary of the 2nd defendant at the Extra-ordinary Southwest Zonal Congress.

    “That the default fees for the delay in compliance with the time limited by the judgment of this honourable court has been paid.

    “That the court has the power to extend the time limited by the judgment for the conduct of a Southwest Zonal Congress for the nomination of a replacement for the 1st defendant in the office of National Secretary of the 2nd defendant.”

     

  • PDP crisis: Court of Appeal fixes Oyinlola’s suit for Sept 23

    PDP crisis: Court of Appeal fixes Oyinlola’s suit for Sept 23

    The Court of Appeal, Abuja Judicial Division has adjourned hearing in a suit filed by sacked National Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, challenging his removal from office.

    The hearing will now come up on September 23, 2013, almost a month after the PDP’s proposed Mini-National Convention.

    The national convention has been postponed to August 20.

    Although the PDP has listed Oyinlola’s seat as one of the offices to be contested for at the Mini-National Convention, it could not be immediately ascertained what the party’s attitude will be to the ongoing court matter.

    Oyinlola had written to the chairman of the special national convention of the PDP to draw his attention to the pendency of the suit before the Court of Appeal.

    He said it would be contemptuous of the PDP to attempt to fill the position of the national secretary in view of the fact that the matter is before the law court of competent jurisdiction.

    He also said it would amount to breach of the rule of law and the principles of fair play and natural justice if any step is taken by the PDP to fill the position of national secretary at the party’s national convention slated to hold next month.

    One of the legal representatives at the court said: “The matter which came up for hearing at the Court of Appeal, Abuja Judicial. Division today (yesterday) was adjourned till September 23 when the courts are expected to resume from their annual recess.

    “This is when the legal battle will begin. The significant thing is that the decision of the court will have effect on the outcome of the Mini-National Convention.

    “This is why Oyinlola is trying to call on the PDP to stay action on election of a new National Secretary because it will be subjudice to this matter.”

    In the suit, Prince Oyinlola is seeking the declaration of the Court of Appeal that he was validly elected as the PDP national secretary at the national convention of the party which held in Abuja on March 24, last year.

    The Plaintiff is also asking the Court of Appeal to set aside the January 11, 2013 ruling of Hon. Justice Abdul Kafarati of the Federal High Court, Abuja which nullified his election on account of a declaration that Oyinlola emerged as the candidate of the South-west PDP at its zonal convention of March 21, 2012.

    Oyinlola has asked the appellate court for a declaration that the decision of the Federal High Court is not justiceable.

    He alleged that the Federal High Court over-stepped its bounds by making some declarations which run contrary to the Constitution of the PDP.END

     

  • PDP shifts mini convention

    PDP shifts mini convention

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has shifted the party’s mini convention earlier slated for July 20 till further notice.

    The party, in a statement on Thursday cited the coming Ramadan fast as reason for the shift in date.

    The postponement is coming on the heel of a petition by the Ogun State chapter of the party kicking against election into the office of the National Secretary of the party to replace Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola who was removed from the position.

    The petition signed by Adebayo Dayo and Semiu Shodipo, chairman and secretary respectively, the chapter stated that it would be wrong for the party leadership to replace Oyinlola through the proposed Southwest congress.

    Oyinlola was removed from office on the strength of a judgment of a Federal High Court that voided the zonal congress through which he emerged as a candidate for the position.

    In the petition addressed to the chairman of the PDP Special Convention, Prof. Jerry Gana, the petitioners added that the proposed Southwest zonal congress contravened a court pronouncement on the matter.

    The duo warned that the planned July 11 convention in the zone aimed at electing Oyinlola’s replacement must be put on hold.

  • Southwest PDP declares Oyinlola’s position open

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the Southwest yesterday declared open the seat of the party’s national secretary, which was formerly occupied by Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola.

    Speaking with reporters shortly after a meeting of the party’s chieftains at its Zonal Office in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, Southwest PDP Caretaker Chairman Chief Ishola Filani said except the national chairman, auditor and financial secretary, other exco members were asked to resign following the nullification of their election by a court.

    Filani said: “All other officers have been asked to resign. The position of the national secretary was nullified at the court and has been declared open. Other injunctions at the lower and appeal courts threw out the case. As far as we are concerned, the position of the national secretary is open to all members.”

    He said the zonal sharing formula remains the same and clarified as follows: “National vice-chairman, Southwest and zonal PRO, Ekiti State; zonal organising secretary and zonal financial secretary, Lagos State; zonal secretary and national auditor, Ogun State; zonal treasurer and national legal adviser, Ondo State; zonal auditor and zonal youth leader, Oyo State; national secretary and national woman leader, Osun State. Each state has an ex-officio and the national ex-officio still exists.”

    Filani said the meeting showed that Southwest PDP is united and prepared to work together to win future elections, particularly those coming up in Osun and Ekiti states next year.

    He said issues that caused disagreement in the zonal party had been settled.

    On a meeting held in Lagos yesterday by some Southwest PDP chieftains, Filani said it was not an official PDP meeting.

    He said: “The official meeting of the party is the one held here today. In a text message I received yesterday, the convener of the Lagos meeting, Chief Bode George, said their meeting is without prejudice to the meeting holding in Ibadan. He even sent an apology for his absence.”

    On the endorsement of President Goodluck Jonathan for the 2015 election by PDP leaders in the Southwest, he said the decision was unanimously made.

    Chieftains at the meeting include: Former Osun State Governor Isiaka Adeleke, former Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose, former Ogun State Speaker Mrs. Titi Oseni, former Ogun State Deputy Governor Mrs. Salimot Badru, Chief Buruji Kashamu and Ambassador Abayomi Finni, among others.

  • Oyinlola attacks Oyedokun over anti-Obasanjo’s comment

    Oyinlola attacks Oyedokun over anti-Obasanjo’s comment

    The sacked National Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, yesterday blamed a former Deputy National Chairman of the party, Alhaji Shuaibu Oyedokun, for attacking ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo over the former President’s recent comments in Jigawa State.

    The former Osun State governor said Obasanjo would not leave PDP, contrary to Oyedokun’s insinuations.

    In a statement in Abuja, Oyinlola said he took Oyedokun to beg Obasanjo in 2007 before he could return to the PDP.

    The statement said: “I have painstakingly found out that what former President Obasanjo said in Jigawa was that he was happy Governor Sule Lamido did not disappoint him, given the role he (Obasanjo) played in his emergence as governor.

    “He concluded with a Yoruba proverb: ‘you can help someone get a job, but you cannot help the person to do the job’. We got Lamido the job and he has done it well.

    “That was it. There was no innuendo or allusion to President Jonathan in the statement which Oyedokun has now clung to in order to further cause divisions in the polity.”

    He said it was “unbecoming of an elder like Alhaji Oyedokun to seek to create a rift between President Goodluck Jonathan and former President Obasanjo through unguarded statements that are based on falsehood”.

    Oyinlola said he suspected Oyedokun of being uneasy about the current efforts among PDP stakeholders to resolve the differences in the party, hence the statement.

    The statement said: “I am particularly worried that Oyedokun did not agree with our Board of Trustees (BoT) Chairman, Chief Tony Anenih, who, just last week at the PDP family dinner, called for peace and the resolution of all differences in the party. Could Oyedokun be carrying out the usual assignment of throwing spanners in the works of genuine members of the PDP who are working hard to reconcile all its leaders and members and reposition it for the tasks ahead? What could actually be his motive?

    “I asked the above questions because in 2007, after Oyedokun abandoned the PDP and joined forces with its opponents to found the Action Congress and then lost out in the power struggle in that opposition party, I begged Chief Obasanjo to accept him back into the fold and to even make him a BoT member of the PDP.

     

  • Oyinlola’s bid to retain PDP post stalled

    Oyinlola’s bid to retain PDP post stalled

    The absence of Justice Abdul Kafarati of the Federal High Court, Abuja, on Thursday stalled ruling in an application for stay of execution filed by Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola.

    The court will now rule on the application on April 10.

    The News Agency of Nigeria reports that an official of the court gave April 10 to the parties as the new date for the ruling.

    Oyinlola, a former National Secretary of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), was removed from office based on a judgment of the court delivered on January 11.

    The applicant (Oyinlola) through his counsel, Chief Awa Kalu (SAN), filed the application, urging the court to stay the execution of the judgment pending the determination of a pending appeal against the decision.

    Kalu said that the application originally filed on January 14 and amended to January 21 was brought pursuant to Order 32 Rules 1, 2 and 4 of the rules of the court.

    According to him, the application is basically a step to alert the court of the discontent of his client toward the January 11 judgment.

    He had explained that the judgment was “hasty, erroneous and a major blow to an act that was properly done.’’

    Kalu further argued that the decision was an attack on the Electoral Act, which gave political parties the free hand to conduct their internal affairs without external interference.

    However, Mr. Ajibola Oluyede (SAN), Counsel to plaintiff-respondents, Chief Adebayo Dayo and Alhaji Semiu Sodipo, opposed the application.

    Dayo and Sodipo, who are executive members of the South West Zone of PDP, filed the suit which led to the removal of Oyinlola from office.

  • Obasanjo, Oyinlola, Oni shun Tukur’s peace talks

    Obasanjo, Oyinlola, Oni shun Tukur’s peace talks

    Former President Olusegun Obasanjo and his loyalists in the South West PDP are in no mood yet for the party’s peace talks.

    Suspended National Secretary of the Party, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, its sacked Deputy National Chairman, South West, Engr. Segun Oni and former governor of Oyo State, Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala, all loyalists of Obasanjo, shunned a reconciliation meeting scheduled for Ibadan yesterday by the National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur.

    Former Ogun State Governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, though not an Obasanjo supporter, also stayed away from the meeting convened to resolve the crises that have torn the party into shreds in the zone.

    The peace talks went ahead nonetheless with Alhaji Tukur pleading with members of the party in the zone to sheathe their swords and join forces to rebuild what remains of the party in the South West.

    He urged forgiveness on the part of every member.

    He also told them to forget the bitterness of the past to enable them work together, especially in preparation for the 2015 elections.

    He said: “It is important to have back the South West, considering its importance in the country, in the economy, politics and education. Politics is not a joke. We do it to get power and use the substance of power to serve our members.

    “If you do not acquire power through legal votes, you will not be able to serve diligently those that voted you in.

    “If we fail to toe the line, some people will take over our right to govern the states in the South West.

    “Let us make it the last time that South West will be under any political party except PDP.”

    The Chairman of the Zonal Caretaker Committee, Chief Ishola Filani, had earlier explained that the zone was facing some challenges since it lost the states.

    Describing factionalization as the order of the day in the zone, he said it would affect the chances of the party in 2015 election if not checked in time.

    He said his committee had been meeting with aggrieved members in the zone.

    “We will continue to forge ahead in search of unity, which is necessary to win the election come 2015,” he said.

    He assured Tukur that they would continue to justify the confidence reposed in them to win back aggrieved members into the party.

    Also speaking, the Minister of State for Defence, Erelu Olusola Obada said PDP members across all the states in the South West now know the advantage of being in power, stressing that they have learnt their lessons.

    She said they were ready to reconcile and come together to take back power in the zone in 2015.

    The meeting resolved to set up a reconciliation committee headed by former national deputy chairman, Chief Shuaibu Oyedokun, to bring together the aggrieved members in the zone.

    Each state is expected to nominate two representatives into the reconciliation committee.

    Other notable members of the party in attendance include former Deputy Governor of Osun State, Otunba Iyiola Omisore; former Senate Leader, Hon. Teslim Folarin, Chief Buruji Kasamu; former Osun State Governor, Senator Isiaka Adeleke; former Ekiti State Governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose; Chief Tunde Olowofoyeku; Chief Abiola Ogundokun; Senator Lekan Balogun; Garuba Umar and Ambassador Gbenga Olofin.

    Others are the Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, Hon. Adeola Akande; former Minister of Sports, Prof. Taoheed Adedoja; Hon. AJibola Muraina; Alhaji Yekini Adeojo; Deputy Senate Chief Whip, Senator Hosea Agboola; Oyo State Chairman of PDP, Yinka Taiwo; his Ondo State counterpart, Hon. Ebenzer Olu Alabi; Osun State Chairman, Alhaji Ganiyu Olaoluwa and Lagos State Chairman, Hon. Tunji Shelle, among others.

  • Tukur plots against Oyinlola’s return as Nat. Sec

    Tukur plots against Oyinlola’s return as Nat. Sec

    Tension is mounting between the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Bamanga Tukur and former Osun State Governor, Olagunsoye Oyinlola.

    Tukur is plotting against the recall of Oyinlola as the National Secretary of the party.

    The two openly canvassed different positions on the matter on Tuesday.

    This came to the fore at the hearing of an application filed by Oyinlola seeking to stay execution on the January 11 judgment by Justice Abdul Kafarati of the Federal High Court, Abuja, that sacked him.

    The PDP National Secretariat on Tuesday asked the court to reject Oyinlola’s bid to stay the judgment that sacked him as the party’s scribe.

    Justice Kafarati had voided the nomination of Oyinlola as the candidate of the South West Zonal Chapter of the PDP and his consequent election to the office of National Secretary at the National Convention in March 2012.

    Relying on the order and two separate judgments of the Federal High Court, Lagos that nullified the South West zonal congress that produced Oyinlola as candidate, Justice Kafarati held that his nomination and subsequent election were invalid, null and void.

    Dissatisfied, Oyinlola approached the Court of Appeal, Abuja.

    He also filed a stay of the execution of the judgment.

    But the party on Tuesday urged the Federal High Court to reject the application.

    Moving his application, Oyinlola’s counsel, Awa Kalu (SAN) said his client could no longer be removed as the secretary since the order of the court directing the South West zone to conduct a new congress to replace Oyinlola within 21 days was not obeyed.

    Kalu said an order which is “spent is of no legal force and is discharged and made void by effluxion of time.”

    Besides, the counsel argued that Oyinlola cannot be guilty of contempt since the suit that led to his removal was not based on contempt but the validity of his nomination.

    But the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is maintaining a neutral stance on the matter.