News reaching ViewPOintNigeria indicates that a current schedule of primary elections for the Plateau State Chapter of the PDP for the 8th December may be experiencing rife uncertainty.

As a Federal High Court sitting in Jos, has restrained the party and the independent National Electoral Commission from screening and presenting candidates for the governorship elections in 2015.

It would be recalled that the National PDP leadership had earmarked the 8th of December as the date of National Primaries across all regions. But with the current injunction against the Plateau State chapter of the PDP, it remains unclear whether they would comply with the court order or trounce it as has been the case in similar incidents.

The order was delivered at the instance of 9 members of the party who filed a application against the State PDP, asking the court to stop the primaries from going ahead. The suit was filed by the members against the State PDP for they construe as plans to undermine the principle of power shift and power sharing –or in other words the zoning of political and public offices as enshrined in the constitution in relation to the office of governor.

News reaching ViewPointNigeria indicates that a current schedule of primary elections for the Plateau State Chapter of the PDP for the 8th December may be experiencing rife uncertainty.

As a Federal High Court sitting in Jos, has restrained the party and the independent National Electoral Commission from screening and presenting candidates for the governorship elections in 2015.

It would be recalled that the National PDP leadership had earmarked the 8th of December as the date of National Primaries across all regions. But with the current injunction against the Plateau State chapter of the PDP, it remains unclear whether they would comply with the court order or trounce it as has been the case in similar incidents.

The order was delivered at the instance of 9 members of the party who filed an application against the State PDP, asking the court to stop the primaries from going ahead. The suit was filed by the members against the State PDP for they construe as plans to undermine the principle of power shift and power sharing –or in other words the zoning of political and public offices as enshrined in the constitution in relation to the office of governor.

Persons who filed the suit included Mr. Barnabas Rintar, Eric Gumwai, Mathew Datong, Gurumdiye Dipak and five other individuals. They also prayed the court to restrain the processing of forms and screening of candidates for the polls.

Specifically, the plaintiffs are seeking for the interpretation of Section 7 (3) (c) of the PDP Constitution as it relates to rotation and zoning of political offices and Section 14 (3) of the 1999 Constitution as it relates to the principles of federal character.

The plaintiffs are also asking for an order to restrain the PDP from taking further steps that would undermine or jeopardise the pending suit in relation to the governorship of Plateau State and to stop the party from accepting any governorship candidate pending the hearing of the motion on notice.

Delivering the judgement on Wednesday, Justice Ambrose Lewis-Allagoa, asked the respondents to appear on December 3rd to demonstrate why they have opposing points of view.

In view of the fast approaching date of the primaries, the court also ordered a speedy hearing five days from the date of the service of the order because of the facts disclosed in the suit.

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High Court Restrains Plateau PDP From Conducting Governorship Primaries