House Defection: Court Fixes February 14 To Hear PDP's Motion
Tue, 04/02/2014 - 13:07 Written by
A Federal High Court, Abuja, on Monday fixed February 14 for hearing of the suit brought by the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, against some members of House of Representatives who recently defected to the All Progressives Congress, APC.Justice Adeniyi Ademola fixed the date to enable him hear the PDP’s originating summons filed by the party’s counsel, Yunus Usman (SAN), who is billed to argue his motion that day.
The party had prayed the court to grant an interlocutory injunction restraining all defendants in the suit to maintain the status quo until the final determination of the substantive suit.
The party’s action was a reaction to the defection of 37 House members to the All Progressives Congress, APC, late last year.
It will be recalled that the PDP has had to struggle to maintain leadership of the House having lost some of its members to the opposition party in recent times.
The PDP instituted the court action via an originating summons aimed at stopping any leadership change in the House of Representatives.
At the resumed hearing of the case on Monday, Mahmoud Magaji (SAN), Sebastian Hon (SAN), Jibrin Okutepa (SAN), and James Ocholi (SAN), all counsel to defendants, urged the court to dismiss the motion for lack of locus standi.
They described the motion as an abuse of court process by the party having entered appearance in a similar matter against defection in another Federal High Court, Abuja.
They said the issue of leadership of the House of Representatives was an internal affair of the House as provided for by Section 66 (b) of the 1999 Constitution and should not be meddled into by the PDP.
After hearing submissions of the counsel on both sides, Justice Ademola adjourned the matter till February 14 in order to enable the PDP counsel argue the party’s originating motion.
The party had prayed the court to grant an interlocutory injunction restraining all defendants in the suit to maintain the status quo until the final determination of the substantive suit.
The party’s action was a reaction to the defection of 37 House members to the All Progressives Congress, APC, late last year.
It will be recalled that the PDP has had to struggle to maintain leadership of the House having lost some of its members to the opposition party in recent times.
The PDP instituted the court action via an originating summons aimed at stopping any leadership change in the House of Representatives.
At the resumed hearing of the case on Monday, Mahmoud Magaji (SAN), Sebastian Hon (SAN), Jibrin Okutepa (SAN), and James Ocholi (SAN), all counsel to defendants, urged the court to dismiss the motion for lack of locus standi.
They described the motion as an abuse of court process by the party having entered appearance in a similar matter against defection in another Federal High Court, Abuja.
They said the issue of leadership of the House of Representatives was an internal affair of the House as provided for by Section 66 (b) of the 1999 Constitution and should not be meddled into by the PDP.
After hearing submissions of the counsel on both sides, Justice Ademola adjourned the matter till February 14 in order to enable the PDP counsel argue the party’s originating motion.
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