*We are awaiting outcome of Appeal court case, says Turaki’s side
By Lateef Ibrahim Abuja
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Friday waded into the leadership crisis that has been rocking the Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP, for sometime by summoning the two factions within the opposition party for a meeting.
The meeting, held at the conference hall at the INEC headquarters in Abuja and presided over by its Chairman, Professor Joash Ojo Amupitan, SAN, had in attendance the two warring factions of the PDP.
The two factions are those led by Barrister Kabiru Turaki and the other one headed by Abdulrahman Mohammed, which has the backing of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike and Senator Samuel Anyanwu.
In his opening speech at the meeting,
Prof. Amupitan, explained that the intervention became necessary sequel to a series of conflicting correspondence received from the PDP by INEC.
The commission’s actions, he pointed out, were guided strictly by the constitution, the Electoral Act and its internal regulations, assuring the factions of its neutrality.
According to the INEC Chairman, “As a build-up to these elections, we have issued our own schedule of activities to all the political parties. And we are on course to ensure that we have a very smooth election at the area council of FCT and at Ekiti and Osun States.
“We have received conflicting correspondence from the PDP, and we felt that rubbing minds together would be a good opportunity for us to forge the way forward concerning the elections.
“And I’m happy that this morning (yesterday morning) we have the very top officials that are present here so that we can discuss as a family and see how the issues can be resolved and we move forward.”
“So, we are mindful of the need for us to maintain the sanctity of the Constitution of Nigeria.
“Actually, INEC sits on a tripod, comprising three legal regimes: the Constitution, the Electoral Act, and the regulations that have been made.
“So, we are determined to ensure that we follow the provisions of the various laws, the Constitution and the regulations that we have made.
“Without much ado, I want to welcome all of you, and I request that we should have very, very frank discussions to ensure that we can achieve the objective of this meeting.”
Barrister Turaki attended the meeting alongside members of his national working committee, secretariat staff and former Niger State Governor, Babangida Aliyu, while Mohammed was accompanied by members of his national caretaker committee, including its secretary, Senator Sam Anyanwu.
The meeting later went into a closed-door session after the opening speech by Amupitan.
The faction of the PDP led by Turaki later issued a statement, at the end of the meeting where it expressly declared that it was awaiting the outcome of the court over the cases that have been instituted over the crisis.
The statement by the Turaki-led faction said, “at the end of the meeting, reads,
“Earlier today (yesterday), the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Prof. Joash Amupitan SAN invited the Kabiru Turaki-led National Working Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party and some former members of our party who are claiming to be in different leadership positions in the party, to in his words; find a way to resolve the lingering crisis in the party”.
“Both sides exhaustively presented the facts of the situation and confirmed that the issues are now before the Court of Appeal.
“At the end, the INEC Chairman concluded that the meeting was called to hear from both sides, though the commission is aware of the pending cases at the Court of Appeal and that the Commission awaits the final judgement of the Court on the matter.
“At the end of the meeting, National Chairman, Kabiru Turaki SAN said: As the authentic leadership of the party that emerged at a valid convention (though contested in court), while awaiting the pronouncement of the court, we will continue to undertake the duties of an opposition party, which is to hold government to account on critical issues like security, infrastructure, education, healthcare etc”, it concluded.
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