The Ogun State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has criticised the exparte order granted the party's former National Secretary, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola by an Osun State High Court sitting in Osogbo.
In a statement by the party's Chairman and Secretary, Adebayo Dayo and Alhaji Semiu Sodipo, who were the plaintiffs in the suit that sacked Oyinlola, they said while they were at one with Oyinlola that the Prof. Jerry Gana-led special convention committee cannot conduct election into the office of the National Secretary, he cannot stop the party from replacing him "merely because he is on appeal when a stay of execution has not been granted by any court".
The party said the judgment of the Federal High Court that sacked Oyinlola prescribed the process for choosing his successor in accordance with the Constitution of the party.
"Having complied with the order, the zonal leadership of the party has filed return to the same court. Even Oyinlola has filed his counter-claims in the matter. The suit has been assigned and listed, and the case on the same subject matter has been fixed for September in the same court.
"We see his latest resort to an Osun State High Court as an after-thought and an abuse of court process. The court has neither territorial nor subject matter jurisdiction.
"It does not have territorial jurisdiction because the constitution says a State High Court has jurisdiction over a matter that arises in a state or that affects people who are resident in the state. Now, most of the people listed as defendants in the suit filed in Osogbo reside outside Osogbo," the party said.
