According to Umar Sani, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Sule Lamido, the former governor of Bauchi State, was barred from attending the Ibadan National Convention, which resulted in the National Working Committee (NWC) led by Kabiru Turaki, because he did not follow the proper procedures to obtain the form for the chairmanship position.
Recall that Lamido had challenged the results of the National Convention before the Federal High Court in Abuja.
Lamido informed the court that he could not run for the party’s national chairperson by using his fundamental rights.
But in an appearance with Arise Television’s Morning Show, Sani claimed that Lamido only expressed interest in running for the job on the day the applications were due.
Sani claims that Lamido also went to Wadata House rather than the party’s Legacy House annex office to purchase the form.
Sani went on to emphasize that the party believed the court had made a mistake by ignoring them.
“These are the issues we are trying to formulate to the Supreme Court, if necessary, because some of these things and some of the arguments we have put forward to the Court of Appeal were not taken into consideration by the Court of Appeal,” he stated.
“In the Sule Lamido case, they failed to consider the logic of our reasoning and the reasons for our decisions. It is evident that Lamido arrived to purchase forms on the day that the completed forms were supposed to be returned, and the Convention Planning Committee, whose headquarters were located in the Legacy House, our other office, had already scheduled the sale of forms.
On the last day to turn in forms, Lamido went to Wadata Plaza to buy a form. You see, we thought that the court had made a mistake by not paying attention to us, even with that argument.
“You know, even in that case, the court did not rule that the convention should not proceed.” They suggested that we make place for Lamido to attend the convention. Therefore, we felt that allowing him to participate when he hasn’t even received a form goes against the party’s constitution and standing rules. The court has stated that all decisions should be based on our constitution, but it is ignoring this crucial component of our constitution.
“Therefore, we believed that the Supreme Court should make a decision on these matters.”
