An Abuja Divisional Court of Appeal on Friday set aside a lower court order that had barred former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Uche Secondus.
He banned Rivers State Governor, Celestine Omehia, former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Austin Opara and others from attending party meetings.
In three separate judgments, a three-judge panel of the Court of Appeal unanimously upheld the appeals brought by the three aggrieved party leaders.
The Court of Appeal found their appeal to be valid.
Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja issued an order barring Messrs. Secondus, Omehia and Opara from attending any meeting of the party’s national executive committee or taking part in any manner in the deliberations or proceedings of such meetings.
However, the Court of Appeal held that the question of whether a party member should attend party meetings or take part in party activities is a matter for the party to decide.
The court also held that the issue as to whether members of a political party should attend party meetings is an internal party matter and therefore not subject to judicial review and is beyond the jurisdiction of the court.
The Federal High Court ruled that it should not have heard these cases because it has no jurisdiction to hear and adjudicate cases relating to the internal affairs of political parties.
The Court of Appeal declared three proceedings in the Federal High Court invalid.
The court also quashed a restraining order issued ex parte by Justice Ekwo on April 5.
More details to come…
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