Tukur loses bid to remove Mua’zu as PDP chair

By Ali Abubakar

Immediate past chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Bamanga Tukur has lost his bid to remove incumbent chairman, Adamu Mu’azu and to reinstate himself.

This followed the decision of a Federal High Court in Abuja yesterday which dismissed the suit instituted by an aspirant to the House of Representatives from Adamawa State, Aliyu Buba Gurin, seeking to unseat the national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Adamu Mu’azu.

The court also dismissed the counter claim brought by Tukur who is the second defendant in the suit, seeking his reinstatement.

Tukur said he would challenge the judgement at the Court of Appeal.

Gurin had asked the court to unseat Mu’azu and at the same time stop him from presiding over the forth coming PDP convention.

Tukur, who was the second defendant in the suit, brought a counter claim supporting all the reliefs sought by the plaintiff.

The plaintiff had joined PDP, Bamanga Tukur, Mu’azu and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), as first to fourth respondents.

In his judgement, the trial judge, Justice Evoh Chukwu, held that the court had jurisdiction to entertain the matter on the grounds that the suit sought the court’s interpretation of some sections of the constitution noting that it appears that a political party had breached its internal provisions, the court might be invited to determine the level of complicity.

Also a judge of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, Justice Evoh Chhukwu has withdrawn from a suit instituted by a House of Representatives member, Abiodun Ishiaq Akinlade, seeking to compel the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal to vacate the seat following his defection from the PDP to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The plaintiff sought an order declaring that Emeka Ihedioha take over as Speaker. The matter was consequently assigned to Justice Chukwu.

When the matter came up on Tuesday, the trial judge announced his withdrawal from the suit on the grounds that a petition had been written against him.