Umar Sani is a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). In this interview monitored on Arise Television, he speaks on the fresh legal battle in the party and the way forward, among other issues, ANAYO EZUGWU reports

There are so many issues within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with only two governors left. With the ruling of the Appeal Court, do you agree with the view that the party has just been given an opportunity to reset?

Well, let me address the last one before addressing the first issue you raised about the way forward. Now, these are the issues we are trying to formulate to the Supreme Court, if necessary, that some of these things and some of the arguments we have put forward was the jurisdiction by the Court of Appeal. They did not look at the wisdom of our argument and why we took certain decisions.

In the Sule Lamido case, it is very clear that Sule Lamido came to by form on the day that it was scheduled for the return of completed forms and the party had already scheduled sale of forms under the Convention Planning Committee, which headquarters was domiciled at our other office, our annex, which is the Legacy House. Sule Lamido went to Wadata Plaza to purchase form on the final day for the submission of forms. Even with that argument, the court played deaf to our argument, and we felt that the court erred in law by not listening to us.

Even at that, the court didn’t say that we should not go ahead. They said we should open a room for him to participate in the convention. But we felt opening a room for him to participate, when he has not even obtained a form is against the standard rules of the party and against the constitution of our party. And the court is saying every decision was taken in reliant on our constitution, and yet it is jettisoning this very important aspect of our constitution.

So, we felt these are issues clearly for determination by the Supreme Court. Again, the way forward where you raise this fundamental issue is that the Court of Appeal, Ibadan. We have approached the Court of Appeal Abuja Division, which has just passed its judgment and the Court of Appeal, Ibadan. In the wisdom of the presiding judge in the Court of Appeal, he said ‘PDP, you are a family, the court has no power to intervene in your matter.

Go and settle, and come back with the names you agreed on.’ Then, we now take it and then stamp an authority over it, and it becomes our judgment. On the basis of that, the National Working Committee (NWC) and the Board of Trustees (BOT) met to formulate three grounds where the party will be heading to. The first is the possibility for us to go to the Supreme Court, which will now be debated.

The second one, I wish to keep it, because it’s our strategy. It’s not supposed to be let out of the bag. But the last one is to embrace the issue of reconciliation as propounded by the courts. Now, these are the three issues that will be debated at the expanded National Executive Council (NEC) meeting and then decisions taken there will now be forwarded.

The court was very clear on the exclusion of Sule Lamido. The court said that he should not just have been accommodated, but no other person should have been excluded. The court also says that where fundamental human right of a member of the party is violated, the court can intervene. What are your reactions to these?

Let me clarify certain things that are not maybe known to you. In the Ibadan High Court, it was a contestant for the office of national deputy organizing secretary, who took the party to court. It was not the party that went to Ibadan looking for a judge to give a favourable judgment.

He was the one that took us to court, saying that he will suffer some injury if that convention does not take place, and that he is appealing to the court to ensure that that convention takes place because the amount of investments he has made to contest that election since he has been screened. Everything he asked was that the court should ensure that that the convention holds. So, we never went to court.

The issue we are facing now is not the existential threat of not participating in the 2027 elections, but trying to put the soul of the party in a proper shape and form

In the Justice Omotoso issue, we didn’t go to court. In Justice Lifu’s issue, we didn’t go to court. We were all sued. So, we were responding to the outcomes of those issues. And for your information, Kabiru Turaki did not participate in the convention alone. It was not an unopposed thing. He contested alongside somebody from Katsina State and the scores were counted. The other person got some votes. So, the contest was open and the other person bought the form at the prescribed time. Turaki also bought the form at the prescribed time.

It was only Sule Lamido, who didn’t buy the form at the prescribed time. So, the issue is not the judgment, but the technicality behind the judgment. Now, if you are not a participant, you did not even buy a form to participate, and then the court will not direct us. It means that the court is becoming a meddlesome interloper in a matter that had already been settled internally.

Senator Bukola Saraki is of the opinion that the party should end the matter at the Court of Appeal decision in order not to jeopardize the opportunity or chances of the party having a presidential candidate. Do you think that is wisdom at play, and if you do agree with this, would you be willing to find a way to work with the Nyesom Wike faction for a national convention in the interest of the party?

Well, the issue of another national convention will amount to double jeopardy. They are saying our convention, and then they want to hold a convention. On what premise will they hold a convention? On the subject matter of convention, how can the same people now confirmed by the Court of Appeal as having been suspended at that time be now granted legitimacy?

So, from where would they derive the authority to go now and do a convention? This is the issue. What Saraki is saying is that we should join them in convention. But if they say they are hosting a convention, or that the party should sit down and do another fresh convention, at what point will we be able to meet the guidelines of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The primaries are scheduled to hold between April 23 and May 30. How do we meet this? So, it means that it is either they are calling us to join their own convention, which has no derivable legitimacy, or they are calling us to settle in accordance with the provisions of the judgment or advice of the Court of Appeal in Ibadan. These are the two areas I am saying will suffice.

Would you be going to the Supreme Court and do you know when the court will be able to deliver judgment on the matter?

Let me go to the first one, whether if they decide, because, like I told you, the decision is theirs. They are now sitting and trying to decide which option to take of the three options like I mentioned. Now, if they decide to go to the Supreme Court, nobody has the assurance that this is when the Supreme Court is going to seat on the matter and they are not even bound by time because this is a civil matter.

The Supreme Court can decide to look at it even at a later hour. But, perhaps, due to the urgency of the matter, I’m sure the litigants will file an affidavit of urgency, urging the Supreme Court to take a quick decision on the matter. But where they do take a decision or they don’t take a decision, the issue we are facing now is not the existential threat of not participating in the 2027 elections, but trying to put the soul of the party in a proper shape and form.

And as it is now, it is like the party is not being driven by anybody. The party is just standing; it is a standalone party, not driven by any side, because the authority which the Wike people said they had and with which they had formed all their Board of Trustees and NWC was quashed because the court maintained and affirmed that those people were under suspension at that time and could not have performed any legitimate function of the party.

So, the party is left with no other alternative than to reconcile. And that reconciliation, to me, will be best with the advice of the Ibadan Court of Appeal, where it says we should go and sit down, look at the list, adjust things and then come back, so that it will adopt it and pass it as a judgment because it is agreeable to both parties.

Why didn’t Sule Lamido get the form in the first place?

The circumstance surrounding Sule Lamido not getting the form in the first instance is that the party published dates for sales of forms and those who were interested, like Senator Lado from Katsina bought the form. Kabiru Turaki also bought the form at the prescribed time.

There was a time for filling and submission of forms. It was the time came for the filling and submission of the forms that Sule Lamido now showed interest to contest.

By showing his interest to contest, he now went to Wadata Plaza to go and meet the people who are not in charge of sale of forms. He went to meet the national secretary, who is not in charge of sale of forms.