I Remain APC National Chairman – Oshiomhole

• Urges Appeal Court to vacate suspension order

BY SEGUN ADEBAYO, ABUJA – Embattled National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole said Wednesday night that he remains in charge of the ruling party.

Oshiomhole spoke against the backdrop of an interlocutory injunction granted by a Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court ordering him to step aside pending the determination of a suit filed by six members of the party.

But in a terse statement issued by his spokesman, Simon Egbegbulem, the Comrade Chairman said: “We have filed for a stay of execution and appealed the ruling.”

“With those processes currently before the Appeal Court, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole remains the national chairman of the party,”, Egbegbulem said.

Earlier on Wednesday, Justice Danlami Senchi, while delivering his ruling on an application of interlocutory injunction by six members of the party, directed the APC to desist from acknowledging Oshiomhole as its chairman.

He also directed the party not to allow him access to its Secretariat, pending the hearing and determination of the case.

In their application, the plaintiffs, led by one Mustapha Salihu, prayed the court to stop Oshiomhole from acting as APC Chairman since he had been suspended as a member of the party in his Etsako Ward 10 in Edo State.

They listed Oshiomhole as first respondent and the APC as second respondent in the application filed on their behalf by Oluwole Afolabi.

According to the plaintiffs, Oshiomhole’s rights as a member of the party had ceased by virtue of his suspension at the ward level. They argued that, since the former Edo State governor never contested the suspension, he could not continue to act as the party’s chairman.

Justice Senchi, who said Oshiomhole had been wrongfully kept in office, held that political parties must be bound by their constitutions, adding that it was the Court’s considered opinion that since Oshiomhole had been suspended by his ward, there was no basis to parade himself as the APC National Chairman.

The trial judge thereafter adjourned hearing on the substantive suit to Tuesday, April 7, 2020.

And immediately following the court order, the APC National secretariat was cordoned off by a police detachment and Department of State Services (DSS) operativés

Arriving the ruling Party’s National Secretariat in nine Toyota Hilux vans, the policemen, who came in two batches, were reportedly mobilised from the FCT Command in Garki and Wuse Divisional Police Station in Zone 3, Abuja.

The security beef up at the Secretariat became apparent soon after two court officials had served the High Court order on the APC’s Legal Department.