There may be no end at sight on the administrative crisis rocking All Progressives Congress (APC) as some members of National Working Committee (NWC) have dismissed the court order vacating the suspension of the party’s national chairman, Mr Adams Oshiomhole.
The NWC members equally vowed to investigate the authecticity of the statement admitting the trio of Messers Abiola Ajimobi, Waziri Bulama and Paul Chukwuma as members of the national leadership of the party.
APC National Vice Chairman, Mr Salihu Mustapha, who made the disclosure in a chat with newsmen, warned that whoever found culpable would be sanctioned.
Speaking to newsmen at the party’s National Secretariat in Abuja, Mustapha, condenmed the alleged Kano State High Court vacating the suspension.
He further argued that the two courts are Courts of coordinating jurisdiction and therefore has no jurisdiction to set aside ruling of each other.
An Abuja High Court had on Wednesday asked APC National Chairman, Oshiomhole, to stop parading himself as national chairman of APC, but another High Court in Kano had ruled that the status quo should be maintained before the ruling of the Abuja High Court.
However, reacting to the court order, the APC National Vice Chairman said: “First of all I want to be very brief because the case is in court and I am the plaintiff so it would be subjudice for me. But, I want to tell you from my knowledge of law that two courts of coordinate jurisdiction cannot seat on appeal on an order or judgement given by each other.
“A federal high court cannot seat on appeal on FCT high court. The only court that has the jurisdiction to seat on appeal is the court of appeal in this case and the court order of the FCT high court was served yesterday.
“Most of you have the copy of the order and it is an elementary law that first in time prevails. That of Abuja high court came earlier and we seek for interlocutory injunction and there is affidavit of urgency which seek to prevent certain kinds of mischief which we prayed that the court should help prevent which they did.
“So, If you look at the main reason why that interlocutory injunction is granted I don’t think that a federal high court of the same jurisdiction will now come and set it aside. We don’t need the knowledge of law to know that a high court cannot seat on a matter of appeal over another high court.
“So, I don’t want to say much about the order but I want to say that it is only the court of appeal that can vacate this injunction,” he said.
Asked if there was a leadership vacum in the party, he said: “As you can see we are in the secretariat and we are running affairs of the party. So the suspension still prevails until the hearing of the matter or if there is any contrary order from the court of appeal.”
On the statement issued yesterday by APC National Chairman admitting the three national officers into NWC, he said, “That’s laughable because that one is what amuses me most and it is very pathetic and disturbing because we saw an announcement that purported that we approved nominations of three officers on January 14.
“One of these officers which is the Deputy National Chairman south, nomination from his state came to the national vice chairman on February 28, almost 40 days after the date of the purported meeting. The meeting we held on January 14, I came out of the meeting and I told newsmen that the meeting was stopped because they were trying to do illegality on the National Secretary’s replacement, the matter of the other people was referred to their zone, nobody discussed at the meeting.
“But seeing that he has been suspended he now brought out that information, I don’t think it is a civil matter, I think our lawyers are looking at it because it is a criminal matter
“I am a NWC member and I was not in the meeting where the decision to admit these persons as NWC members was taken. Where is the minutes of the meeting, where was it held? And how do we approve a nomination that is yet to come, we are not running a banana republic.”
Meanwhile, six NWC members met on Thursday at the party secretariat, which, according to source, was to review suspension of the chairman and the admission of three National Officers into the NWC. It was chaired by the Ag. National Secretary, Mr Victor Giadom.
Sun