Election 2023: Ogun PDP in limbo amid court rulings

• State Exco has no right to hold primary elections – Ogundele• Adebutu, Ogundele, NWC Frustrating party for personal gain – Lawal• Lawal's allegations unsubstantiated, says Adebutu

The Ogun State branch of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) may face the daunting task of racing against time and not being able to field candidates in any of the scheduled elections for 2023, given how the party's National Working Committee (NWC) and state executive are handling Court of Appeal directives to hold new primaries.

In accordance with the court judgment, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), while publishing the final list of names of candidates and political parties that will contest the 2023 general elections, had withdrawn all names of PDP candidates in the state. of Ogun. The election arbiter insisted his decision was based on the court's judgment. Recall that the Federal High Court sitting in Abeokuta on Tuesday, September 27, 2022 canceled all primary elections conducted by the various PDP factions in the state. The presiding judge, Justice O. O. Oguntoyinbo, called for a resumption of the primaries within 14 days. The court declared that all the primaries organized by the PDP in the state did not comply with the provisions of the electoral law. Judge Oguntoyinbo prevented INEC from recognizing Ladi Adebutu, who had been declared a candidate for governor. On May 25, 2022, the party held the primary election, which produced Adebutu as the candidate for governor. But, in protest at the outcome, fellow gubernatorial hopefuls Jimi Lawal and Segun Showunmi went to court to challenge the delegate list used in the primary organized by leaders of the party led by Sikirulahi Ogundele in the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library in the state capital. Three members of Lawal's group, Taiwo Idris, Kehinde Akala and Ayinde Monsuri, took the party, Adebutu and INEC to court, challenging the authenticity of the delegate list used for the primaries. They argued that the names on the delegate slate were not democratically elected at ward, local council, and state conventions, so the panel "cannot unilaterally or arbitrarily impose" the slate on the left. They requested the court, among other things, to nullify or cancel the state congress/indirect primary election, organized by the first defendant (the PDP) on May 25, 2022, to choose the candidate, that the first accused intends to nominate/sponsor in the 2023 gubernatorial election in Ogun State based on the list of delegates who were not democratically elected at the ward convention. The court's 14-day directive to stage the resumption of the primaries passed last week. And the development is creating fears and worries among party members, especially those who have spent their fortunes participating in the various primaries that the court has overturned. Speaking to The Guardian on the phone yesterday, Lawal alleged that while other interested parties have shown interest in participating in the repeat primaries and are awaiting direction from the state executive, "our party leadership seems deliberately dragging their feet for whatever reasons known only to them. He revealed that he had met with some delegates, adding: "It's the secretary of state that has problems with the party's NWC. He's It is common knowledge that the NWC is not in favor of resuming the court-ordered primaries because the judge ruled that the state executive, not the national executive, should oversee the process. national body believes that the conduct of primary elections is an exclusive right of the National Executive Council (NEC).

"This is the bone of contention. We have told the executive branch of the state, the president in particular, that he faces the risk of another lawsuit for contempt of court if he disobeys the court order. But state chairman Sikirulahi Ogundele said he always consults before deciding what to do. "Those are the gray areas that we are looking at. But as far as we are concerned, we are ready We've been ready since the day the court ruled we had to start the primaries again.”

Lawal also called on all PDP stakeholders in Ogun to convince the party leadership to take the necessary steps regarding the resumption of the primaries. He underlined: “The party runs the risk of not participating in the elections next year. This is why we have been concerned since day one of the court's decision. We are doing everything we can to get the party to organize the resumption of the primaries. Lawal refuted the allegation that Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State, under which he (Lawal) served before defecting to the PDP to contest the primary, was the one who instigated him to disrupt Ogun's PDP. Instead, he accused Adebutu,...