Again, Judges in Show of Shame over PDP Convention

The judiciary would appear to have descended into an arena of political conflicts as two divisions of the Federal High Court engage in a fight for supremacy, delivering four contradictory rulings within two days centering on the repeat National Convention of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) holding today in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.

While Justice Ibrahim Watila of the Port Harcourt Division ruled emphatically yesterday that the party’s convention being organised by the Ahmed Makarfi-led National Caretaker Committee should go on, ordering the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Department of State Services (DSS) and the police to provide legal cover for the exercise, Justice Okon Abang of the Abuja Division barred the convention from holding.

The two judges had on Monday delivered contradictory rulings with the same effect on the subject matter.
The PDP had become polarised following the 21 May, 2016 National Convention held in Port Harcourt, which sacked the Modu Sheriff-led National Executive Committee (NEC) and replaced it with the seven-man Makarfi National Caretaker Committee, with a mandate to organise another convention within 90 days.

But both camps instituted a litany of suits at the Federal High Court, creating the prevailing situation which concerned legal authorities regretted had brought ridicule and shame to the judiciary.