No respite yet for the All Progressives Congress (APC) caretaker committee and Yobe State Governor, Mai Mala Buni as the People’s Democratic Party ( PDP) has commenced legal action against him for holding two offices.
The main opposition party has approached an Abuja Federal High Court seeking for the removal of Buni as Yobe State Governor, over alleged breach of constitutional provisions barring a sitting executive from holding two offices at the same time.
PDP, in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/885/2021, which it filed through a consortium of lawyers comprising of five Senior Advocates of Nigeria, SANs, led by Mr. Emeka Etiaba, maintained that governor Buni acted in breach of sections 183 and 187 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, when he accepted appointment as Caretaker Committee Chairman of the APC.
The plaintiffs, Umar Damagum and Baba Aji therefore asked the court for an order directing the Yobe State Chief Judge or any other senior person next to the Chief Judge to immediately swear in Damagum and Aji as Governor and Deputy Governor of Yobe State being candidates of the party which came second in the 2019 governorship election in Yobe State.
However, APC said PDP’s action amounts to abuse of court processes which warrant a punishment by the judiciary.
In a statement by its caretaker committee secretary, Sen. John James Akpanudoedehe, the party said PDP has no locus to take any action on the internal affairs of another party, describing the suit as frivolous.
The statement reads; “Our attention has been drawn to a purported court action sponsored by the Peoples Democratic Party PDP against His Excellency, Mai Mala Buni, Chairman of the APC Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee CECPC and Governor of Yobe State.
“While we are constrained from and reluctant to comment on the PDP’s misplaced and frivolous court action because it will be sub judice, the PDP leadership is obviously executing a desperate and poorly-scripted propaganda plot aimed at deflecting attention from the crisis of confidence the failed opposition party faces.
“The PDP are ignominious rablerousers and have no locus to take any action on the internal affairs of the APC. The Supreme Court has already affirmed the status and legality of the CECPC and that is all there is to it.
“There are clearly spelt out punitive measures against abuse of court processes. We are confident that the Judiciary will apply these measures fully”.
