Court backs PDP leadership to dissolve Ondo exco

A Federal High court sitting in Abuja on Friday ruled that the National Working Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party has the constitutional right to dissolve its state executive.The judgement was the outcome of a case filed against the NWC by a faction of the Ondo PDP led by Ebenezer Alabi, following the dissolution of the state executive after Governor Olusegun Mimiko defected to the party.The dissolution paved the way for the installation of a caretaker committee headed by Dare Adeleke.Ruling on the case, Justice Ademola Adeniyi, said the constitution of the PDP allowed for the dissolution of the state executive by the party’s leadership in spite of its four-year tenure.The court refused to grant the prayer of the plaintiff to ensure that the plaintiff is the sole bodythat supplies names of aspirants in the upcoming elections in the state to the leadership of the party.It also refused to grant any order against the Independent National Electoral Commission to ignore any list submitted to it by the party other than the names supplied by the plaintiff.The trial judge, Justice Adeniyi Ademola, took arguments from all parties to the suit.Plaintiffs in the suit are contesting the powers of the party’s leadership to dissolve their executive, which was constituted in 2012.Defendants in the suit include Dare Adeleke; Osawu Solomon; PDP; its National Chairman, Adamu Mu’azu; the party’s National Secretary, Prof. Wale Oladapo; INEC; and the Inspector General of Police, Suleiman Abba.The PDP had entered a preliminary objection to the hearing of the suit.During hearing in the matter, Dr. Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN), counsel to the PDP and two others, argued that the suit was premature, defective and not justifiable.