It was jubilation galore in Abuja, Nigeria’s federal Capital Territory and Osun State on Wednesday, when news of a Court of Appeal ruling that reinstated embattled former Governor of Osun State, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola as National Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) filtered into the two areas of the country.
In Osogbo, the Osun State capital, members of the party, majority of who are loyal to the former governor, danced publicly in celebration of the court ruling. The loyalists scattered in various areas of the state capital commended the Court of Appeal for vindicating their benefactor.
“We knew this was just persecution. President Jonathan has created more enemies for himself than friends,” Jimoh Azeez, one of them, said. “He surrounds himself with sycophants who tell him lies. We are waiting to see how the PDP would react to the ruling.”
Oyinlola was sacked from office by the ruling of a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja and presided over by Justice Abdul Kafarati on the ground that the South-West congress of the party that produced him for the position violated two separate orders of a Lagos Federal High Court that nullified the congress. Not satisfied, he appealed the case, before joining other aggrieved members of the party to break away and launch what is now known as the New Peoples Democratic Party.
In his judgement on Wednesday, Justice J.T. Toh set aside the judgement of the high court and ordered Oyinlola’s reinstatement, claiming that the trial court acted in error by granting declarative reliefs sought by the Ogun State chapter of the PDP, which challenged Oyinlola’s victory.
The court noted that Oyinlola was not party to the suit that nullified the South-West congress of the party, which produced Oyinlola, adding that the ex-governor’s right to fair hearing was infringed upon.
Invoking Section 15 of the Court of Appeal Act, the court held that the lower court had infringed on the fundamental human rights of the appellant to fair hearing.
Responding to the judgement through its counsel, Ajibola Oluyede, the Ogun State chapter of the PDP, which is the respondent, has vowed to head to the Supreme Court.
