Suit against Osun SDP suffers set back, as judge transfers case to CJ

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7 years ago

SDP

A suit filed against the Social Democratic Party (SDP) on the conduct of the party’s ward and local government congresses suffered a set back on Tuesday, as the presiding judge withdrew from the case.

At the resumed hearing on Tuesday, Justice Jide Falola of the Osun State High Court sitting in Ikirun, referred the suit to the Chief Judge of the state for reassignment.

The SDP in a swift reaction, said it wasn’t surprised about the judge’s decision, as it described the plaintiffs as “impostors, who impersonated and misled the court to be SDP local government chairmen, whereas SDP has no structures, that is, chairmen in any local government in Osun State, and indeed, none in the federation, and no structures at the wards levels too.”

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As a result, the SDP leadership said, “the impostors have been reported to the police to face criminal charges,” the reason it said “they are on the run and their suit no:HIK/M/23/2018 somersaulted and suffered to be returned to the state chief judge.”

Earlier, the chairman of the national electoral panel for Osun SDP congress, Hon Mba Ajah, had, on Saturday, while addressing a press conference in Osogbo, said “we are not aware of any court injunction or order stopping us from holding the congress.”

He said, “we were in the state party secretariat till 6.00 p.m. yesterday (Friday) and we did not receive any court order or papers from the court. We are here on assignment to conduct ward congress today (Saturday) and local government congress on Monday. We are very satisfied with the unity in Osun SDP.”

Consequently, he said the party went ahead with the conduct of its ward and local government congresses in compliance with the provisions of the law and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) act empowering the party to elect its officers.