The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has issued an interim order restraining the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from removing Amb. Umar Damagun as its National Chairman.
The order was issued in response to an ex parte motion presented on behalf of the plaintiffs, Sen. Umar Maina and Alhaji Zanna Mustapha, by their lawyers, M. Onyilokwu, U. Udosen, Douglas Moru, Clarissa Chibuike, and M. Ekpo.
The trial Judge, Justice Peter Lifu, granted the interim restraining order pending the hearing and determination of suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/579/2024, which names the PDP, its National Working Committee (NWC), National Executive Committee (NEC), Board of Trustees, and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the first to fifth Defendants/Respondents.
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In the order made on May 3, 2024, and its Certified True Copy (CTC) made available to newsmen on Wednesday, the Judge held that, “The Defendants/Respondents are hereby restrained, in the interim, from appointing, selecting, or nominating any person to replace Amb. Umar Damagun as National Chairman or Acting National Chairman of the first Defendant/Respondent pending the hearing and determination of the Motion on Notice already filed which is fixed for 14th May, 2024.
“The Defendants/Respondents, by themselves, agents, privies, or any proxy, are hereby, in the interim, restrained from according recognition to any person other than Damagun as acting National Chairman of the first Defendant/Respondent or giving effect to or acting upon any document purporting to be signed by the National Chairman or Acting National Chairman of the first Defendant without the name and signature of Damagun pending the hearing and determination of the Motion on Notice already filed in court in the instant suit.”
The Court further ordered the plaintiffs/applicants to enter into a fresh undertaking to pay damages to the Respondents (to be assessed by the Court) if, at the end of the day, it is discovered that the order ought not to have been granted or that the court was misled into granting the same.
The Court then scheduled May 24, 2024, for the hearing of the Motion on Notice dated and filed on May 2, 2024.
