The National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, Felix Morka, on Thursday, reiterated that the ruling party will not honour the initial court order affirming Dr Abdullahi Ganduje’s suspension as national chairman.
He also reiterated that the national chairman of the party has not been served any summon concerning the initial court order restraining him.
Morka, who featured as a guest on Arise TV, affirmed that they have instead thrown their weight behind the recent Kano Federal High Court ruling calling for a stay of the order.
The political drama in Kano had taken a fresh twist on Wednesday after a Federal High Court presided over by another judge, Justice A.M Liman, halted the purported suspension of Ganduje by his ward executives in Dawakin Tofa Local Government area of the state.
The ruling was given after Ganduje filed an exparte motion seeking to enforce his fundamental right to a fair hearing.
The respondents in the application are the Nigerian Police, Department of State Services, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps and nine other individuals.
Morka argued that it was the right thing to do on the basis that those who masterminded the suspension were not recognised members of the party.
He said, “The order issued by the first court was very disturbing, for some reasons. First, the plaintiffs who purportedly filed that action are not recognised members of our party and therefore shouldn’t have the locus standi to invoke the authority of the court to make any such order.
“Secondly, every lawyer in this country is aware that from the Supreme Court up to the NJC, there is this cautiousness that judges don’t make orders that are far-reaching in effect on an exparte motion or application.
“When you see the nature of the case and observe it is likely to cause the defendant substantial exposure to ridicule and justice, you put that defendant on notice within the context of even that exparte application; so that the justice of the matter can be met.
“But this judge, in this case upheld the illegal suspension of a national chairman, did so on an ex parte application, which shouldn’t really be.
“Being a lawyer, I have a lot of respect for the court and won’t say much. But be that as it may, as I speak, that order of the Kano State High Court purportedly affirming the suspension of our national chairman has not been served on the party and the national chairman himself.
“So this conversation and every other one relating to this has really been based on media reports. In other words, we do not have legal notice of that order. So the question of how we react to it or whether we will respect it or not is out of it because we have not been served. In the meantime, this Federal Court has issued a prohibition, an order restraining the impersonators who are the plaintiffs in that matter from enforcing that suspension.
“We are right now in the stage of status quo where we were before the purported suspension of Ganduje as the national chairman. He still remains our national chairman.”
