By Emmanuel Aziken, Innocent Anaba, Wole Mosadomi, Ben Agande, Jimitota Onoyume & Omezia Ajayi

lagos—The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, was last night headed into further chaos after two different courts in Port-Harcourt and Lagos issued orders restraining the immediate past national chairman, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, and his presumed successor, Senator Ahmed Makarfi, from steering the affairs of the party.

The court orders came as the Makarfi, Sheriff, and Ibrahim Mantu leaderships continued strategic moves to gain the ascendancy in the control of the party.

There were, however, increasing indications that the Mantu and the Makarfi tendencies in the party were moving towards a consensus against the Sheriff leadership.

Meanwhile, the Niger State chapter of the party, yesterday, threw its support towards the resolutions of the Port-Harcourt convention as it affirmed that the decisions would help revive the fortunes of the party.

The seemingly contradictory court orders came as a member of the Makarfi Committee, Senator Odion Ugbesia, pleaded that the Port Harcourt convention did not breach the orders of Lagos Court as he claimed that no election was conducted into any of the offices forbidden by the court.

We’re yet to receive courts orders—INEC

Meanwhile, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, yesterday, feigned ignorance of the two orders from Lagos and Port Harcourt as at 5.00 p.m. INEC Director of Publicity, Mr. Oluwole Uzi, told Vanguard, last night, that it had not yet received any of the orders, saying the commission would only act after receiving the orders and subjecting them to legal process.

The P-Harcourt court order

The order conferring legitimacy on the Makarfi caretaker committee was issued by the Federal High Court, Port Harcourt, on Monday but served on the party yesterday. The order issued by Justice Mohammed Liman also granted an order sought by Rivers State chapter of the party restraining Sheriff and others sacked at the Port Harcourt convention from parading themselves as national officers of the party.

The court also ordered INEC to accord recognition to the caretaker committee put in place at the Port Harcourt convention of the party. Justice Liman also stopped other members of the Sheriff executive from parading themselves as national officers of the party and adjourned further hearing in the matter till June 7.

Justice Liman also restrained INEC from according any recognition to Sheriff, who is the first respondent, Professor Oladipo, the second respondent and other members of the dissolved Sheriff-led executive. He further ordered INEC to accord recognition to the caretaker committee put in place at the Port Harcourt convention of the party.

“The third defendant (INEC) be and is, hereby, restrained from according or continuing to accord any recognition to the first and second defendants or any member of the national executive or the national working committee of the plantiff, who were removed by the national convention of the plaintiff held on the 21st day of May 2016 in Port Harcourt, Rivers State as officers or organs of the plaintiff, pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice.

The third defendant (INEC) be and is, hereby, ordered to recognise the national committee appointed by the national convention held in Port Harcourt, Rivers State on May 21, 2016, as the executive authority of the plaintiff in all matters pertaining to the plaintiff, including the conduct of primary elections for political offices and the submission of the plaintiff’s list of candidates for any elections to be conducted by the 3rd respondent  pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice. “

The court also ordered Sheriff and the others removed by the party’s convention not to sign or endorse any documents in such capacities as they were before their said removal, pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice. The court also ordered that Sheriff and others be removed from office at the Port Harcourt convention be served the court processes and originating summons at their Abuja residencies or through substituted means through two national newspapers.

Lagos court nullifies Makarfi-led caretaker c’ttee

However, Justice Ibrahim Buba of a Federal High Court, Lagos Division, gave the order nullifying the constitution of the Makarfi-led caretaker committee at last weekend’s Port Harcourt convention of the party. He also directed the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase, to enforce his order and arrest whoever paraded himself as a member of caretaker committee of the party.

Justice Buba held that the committee was appointed in violation of an order he made on May 12 in the suit by the national chairman of the party, Sheriff; National Secretary, Adewale Oladipo, and National Auditor, Fatai Adeyanju, asking the court to stop the national convention, pending the determination of the substantive suit.

Defendants in the suit are PDP and INEC.

Before the caretaker committee of the party was appointed, weekend, the court had earlier restrained the party and INEC from conducting any election into the offices of the National Chairman, National Secretary and National Auditor occupied by the first, second and third plaintiffs respectively, pending the hearing and determination of the substantive suit.

The court had also restrained INEC from monitoring or recognising election into the offices occupied by the first, second and third plaintiffs respectively, pending the hearing and determination of the substantive suit.

Court did not stop P-Harcourt convention

In the suit, the three national officers are arguing that their tenures were yet to lapse. Senator Ugbesia, a member of the Makarfi-led Caretaker Committee, however, affirmed that the order of the Lagos court did not negatively affect the committee as he observed that the Port Harcourt convention did not elect officers to breach the order of the court.

He said: “The order was that the convention in Port-Harcourt should not elect the chairman, secretary, and auditor. Port-Harcourt did not elect anybody but in the exercise of its power, the convention dissolved the executive of the committee and again in its exercise of its powers as prescribed in the constitution, appointed a caretaker committee. That is all that happened in Port Harcourt.

“The orders that were given by the Lagos court were not contravened in any manner, all that the Port Harcourt convention did was to set up a committee according to the constitution, as stipulated in Section 32 (5) (e) where it said the national convention can appoint any committee. It is in exercise of that, that the convention appointed a committee.”

Asked about efforts being made to achieve peace, he said:  “The party has an inbuilt mechanism for crisis resolution, we are putting that together.”

Police scale down  presence at National Secretariat

Meanwhile, the Police, yesterday, scaled down its presence at the National Secretariat of the party in Wuse Zone 6 Area of Abuja as it moved away two of its five vehicles earlier stationed at the party secretariat. The vehicles had been positioned as part of the efforts to seal off the premises from the different factional leaderships of the party that emerged last weekend.