By IKECHUKWU NNOCHIRI
ABUJA—Worried by the increasing spate of legal squabbles between some of its key presidential aspirants, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, yesterday, admonished the duo of President Goodluck Jonathan and former Vice President Atiku Abubarkar to flex their surging muscles at the impending primaries of the party instead of the court rooms.

The advice came on a day an Abuja high court sitting at Maitama once again declined to invoke its jurisdiction to compel the PDP to enforce Article 7.2 (c) of its constitution which  provided for zoning and rotation of public offices, even though it yesterday re-iterated that the moral burden was on the party to pay heed to its guiding principles and statutes.

Justice Ishaq Bello, in a judgment he delivered in three separate legal actions filed by loyalists to both aspirants, yesterday, equally refused to disqualify either President Goodluck Jonathan or Atiku from vying for the presidency under the platform of the party, even as he went ahead to dismissed all such related cases pending before the high court.

Shortly after he dismissed the suit challenging the re-admission of Atiku into the PDP on the grounds that the plaintiff, a chieftain of the party in Adamawa State, Alhaji Sadiq Aliyu Jeda, lacked the locus-standi to approach the court for such reliefs, the presiding Judge proceeded to the zoning suit filed by three former associates of ex-Vice President Atiku, Ambassador Yahaya Kwande, Chief Dubem Onyia and Alhaji Lawal Kaita.

While the court described Jeda as a busy-body, it, however, held that the plaintiffs in the second suit had the locus-standi to seek judicial intervention where a party is seen to have contravened any section of its constitution.

The court held that a careful analysis of their originating summons revealed that there was no allegation  that the constitutional right of any of the plaintiffs was breached by the party on the mere fact that President Jonathan, being a Southerner, declared his intention to run for presidency under its platform, adding that their grouse would have been more justifiable if the party had concluded its presidential primaries.

The trio had in their suit, sought an order of perpetual injunction restraining the PDP and its national chairman, Nwodo, from presenting Jonathan as the presidential flag bearer of the party for the impending general elections, contending that going by the controversial zoning arrangement of the party, President Jonathan, as a Southerner, was bound to wait till 2015 to fly the presidential flag of the PDP in any election in Nigeria.

They had insisted that by virtue of sections 13and 15(a) (c) and (f) of the 3rd schedule of the 1999 constitution, section 86 (1) and (2), 67(9) and (10) of the Electoral Act, 2010, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, was bound to compel the PDP to comply with the provisions of Article 7.2(c) of its constitution as amended in 1999.

Consequently, they had through their counsel Mr. Ricky Tarfa, SAN, urged the high court to declare that by virtue of the provisions of sections 14 (3) and 223(2) (b) of the 1999 constitution, section 87(9) and (10) of the Electoral Act 2010, as well as provisions of Articles 2 and 7.2(c) of the PDP’s constitution and subsequent resolution of the national caucus of the party reached on December 2002, president Jonathan cannot contest the 2011 presidential election on the platform of the PDP since he is not a Northerner.

Despite that the high court yesterday affirmed the existence of the controversial zoning arrangement in the PDP constitution, it nevertheless, declined to enforce it and accordingly dismissed the substantive suit.

Meantime, the court also dismissed a third suit that sought to disqualify Atiku from partaking in the PDP screening exercise billed for today, on the grounds that he has plethora of corruption and money-laundering cases pending against him.

Two aggrieved chieftains of the party and two-time gubernatorial aspirants in Adamawa and Taraba states respectively, Mr. Bala Takaya and Senator Abdullahi Kirim, had in a 32-point affidavit in support of their suit, insisted that not only was Atiku indicted of money laundering in a report they said was released by the United States Homeland security in February 2010, but that his activities while in power as Vice president were trailed by allegations of corruption they said prompted an investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.

They contended that should he be selected as the presidential flag bearer of the PDP, that he may be arrested by the US in connection with his alleged financial indiscretion, adding that though he rose to the rank of Deputy Director of Customs between 1969 and 1989, that he was however dismissed from service following report of a panel of inquiry they said indicted him of corruption.

Delivering judgment in their suit, Justice Bello held that the suit was premature; stressing that no cause of action has arisen yet since the presidential screening committee of the PDP is yet to clear him to contest presidency under the party’s platform.

The Judge added that the suit constituted an abuse of court process and accordingly struck it out.

Before the judgments were  delivered yesterday, PDP had through its lawyer Chief J K Gadzama, urged the court to hands-off all the suit filed by loyalist to its warring aspirants, insisting that it was capable of adjudicating over such issues that said bothered on its domestic affairs.