Justice Ladiran Akintola of the Oyo State High Court has ruled that the earlier order allowing the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to proceed with its National Convention slated for this weekend in Ibadan subsists.
The judge gave the ruling on Wednesday in Ibadan.
A PDP member, Mr. Folahan Adelabi, had, in his ex parte motion, prayed the court to restrain the respondents from truncating the convention.
The respondents are the PDP, its acting National Chairman, Umar Damagun; and the Adamawa State Governor, Umar Fintiri, for himself and as a member of the PDP National Convention Organising Committee.
The fourth respondent is the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The court granted Adelabi’s prayers on November 4 and directed the PDP leadership to adhere to the guidelines, timetable, and schedule of activities earlier released for the convention.
It also directed parties to file all their processes in the matter.
At Wednesday’s proceedings, Mr. Emmanuel Ukala (SAN), counsel representing parties to be newly joined as the fifth, sixth, and seventh defendants, informed the court of his application for joinder.
However, before the lawyer moved the application for joinder, the judge drew his attention to the unsigned affidavit in support of his processes before the court, hence making the processes incompetent.
Ukala responded that his copy of the document and those of Mr. A. Ladapo, counsel to the third defendant, and Mr O. Adeyemi, counsel to INEC, were duly signed by the Commissioner for Oaths.
He, however, said that copies of the documents served the claimant’s counsel, Mr. Musibau Adetumbi, and that of Mr. D. Durosaro, counsel to PDP and Fintiri, were not signed.
Ukala told the court that the error must have originated from the registrar.
He, therefore, urged the court to stand down the matter to find out what really happened from the registry.
Durosaro, who opposed the application, said that standing it down won’t cure the defect of the unsigned affidavit.
According to him, since the document before the court was not signed by the deponent, it, therefore, has no authorship.
He then urged the court to strike out the affidavit, saying that a signature was vital in any document before the court.
In his ruling, the judge said that having an unsigned affidavit was a serious fundamental error beyond reform.
He ordered Ukala to tidy up and refile his processes, ruling that the order granting PDP to proceed with its national convention in Ibadan stands.
The judge said the court would determine whether to vacate the order or not on the next adjourned date.
He adjourned the matter till Friday for the hearing of the pending applications
