PDP crisis: Abuja court can’t suspend our convention, ruling ineffective – Barrister Kabir Usman

A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party and an aspirant contesting for the office of the spokesperson of the party, Kabir Usman, has described as ineffective the verdict by an Abuja Federal High Court halting the party’s national convention slated for tomorrow.

Justice Okon Abang of the FHC had on Monday ordered the party to suspend its scheduled August 17 national convention in Port Harcourt, Rivers state, pending the determination of the application filed before him on July 20.

The judge gave the verdict after a lawyer representing the Ali Sheriff faction of the warring party informed him that the Makarfi faction’s national secretary, Ben Obi, had approached the Port Harcourt division of the Federal High Court to obtain an interim injunction.

The injunction compelled the Independent National Electoral Commission and security agencies to take part in the convention.

Reacting to the latest judgment, Kabir, a lawyer, said the Port Harcourt order was ” very specific and was given last week” while, the Abuja order was given only on Monday.

“Monday’s ruling was intolerable and unacceptable and cannot stand. It is the misconduct of the highest order,” he said.

Kabir, who headed the legal unit of the Makarfi faction caretaker committee before he resigned to run for election said the right thing for anyone opposed to the Port Harcourt ruling to do was to go on appeal and ” not a Court of equal jurisdiction”.

“In any case everybody is in Port Harcourt already, so who are they going to serve? We only read about the order in the pages of newspapers,” he said.

On his chances in the election, Kabir, a native of Kogi State said he was sure of emerging victorious after he was endorsed by the northern caucus of the party.