Court stops Obasanjo loyalists from LG poll

A High Court in Ilaro, Ogun State on Tuesday ruled that only the state Executive Committee of the People Democratic Party led by Chief Bayo Dayo has the authority to nominate candidates for the July 21 council election in the state. Justice Mosunmola Dipeolu also restrained the PDP national headquarters from submitting any other list of candidates to the state Independent Electoral Commission apart from the one by the Dayo-led executive. While acknowledging that there were factions within the PDP in the state, the judge however restrained the National Working Committee of the party from interfering in the affairs of its Ogun chapter. A faction of the Ogun PDP, said to be loyal to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, had approached the court to determine whether it was the state executive of the party or the national body that had the right to nominate candidates for the election. The PDP NEC had earlier submitted the list of candidates to OGSIEC for the poll. The PDP faction also prayed the court to mandate OGSIEC to authenticate a list of candidates submitted by the PDP NEC for the election. In
her ruling, Dipeolu held that sections 49, 50 and 60, sub-section 10 of the party’s constitution conferred the authority to run the affairs of the state branch on the state executive committee. She therefore held that the state exco was vested with the powers to determine the list of candidates for the chairmanship and councillorship positions at the local government level. The judge further held that the PDP NEC should allow the state exco to perform its duties without any interference by the parent body, stressing that the party’s constitution sets up its organs with various functions without any inter-lapping of functions. The Dayo-led state exco had secured an interim order directing OGSIEC to recognise and accept its own list of candidates for the poll. Following the controversy over which of the factions has the statutory powers to nominate candidates for the council election, an Abeokuta High Court had also directed OGSIEC to receive nomination lists from all the factions of the PDP in the state.