From: George ONYEJIUWA, OWERRI
Former Secretary to Imo State Government, Chief Chris Okewulonu, has urged Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members in Imo State not to lose sleep over the recent court of Appeal judgment which declared Alhaji Ali Modu Sheriff as the National Chairman of the party.
Okewulonu, a lawyer who stated, on Monday, in Owerri, described the judgment as “a joke”, saying that anybody conversant with the case would not lose sleep over the Appeal Court judgement.
He expressed optimism that the Supreme Court would do the needful and upturn the judgment in line with the law and the wishes of majority of not just PDP members but also many Nigerians.
According to him, the majority judgment neglected the fundamental issue in the case, noting that the learned justices veered off from the germane issues placed before them thereby occasioning a miscarriage of justice.
“The Federal High Court Lagos ordered that no election should be conducted into the offices of National Chairman, Secretary and Auditor at the May 21, 2016 National convention of our party and we complied with this order”, Okewulonu explained.
“No elections at all was held at the convention. No court order ever stopped the convention either. Surprisingly the Court of Appeal based its judgment on disobedience to a non – existent court order stopping the convention. Where they got that spurious court order will be ascertained at the Supreme Court”, we stressed.
He assured party members not to be disturbed by the Court of Appeal’s decision as it is “a temporary setback and will not survive further judicial scrutiny at the Supreme Court”. According to him, the latest development is intended to gag PDP members and compel them to follow an unpopular leadership they are not compatible with, adding that PDP belong to everybody and not to one man.
“We reject the majority judgment of the court of Appeal which is a clear aberration from the law. The minority judgment which was lucid and apt ought to have been concurred with by other two justices but they decided otherwise. Nevertheless, we are not discouraged but are more than ever ready to redress this anomaly at the apex court”, Okwulonu stated.
The former SSG stressed that “be that as it may, we strongly believe that justice will be served at the end of the day as darkness cannot triumph over light”.