Ex-minister drags PDP to court, seeks Secondus' removal

A new crack in the Peoples Democratic Party has become visible after Professor

Adedoja, one of the aspirants, who vied for the position of the party’s national chairmanship at the December 9, 2017 convention, has filed a suit seeking the nullification of the result of the chairmanship election.

At a press briefing in Abuja on Monday, December 18, 2017, Adedoja, a former Minister of Youths and Sports, claimed that he was excluded from the chairmanship race.

Adedoja said he drew the attention of Governor Okowa to the error in his name, which he said the governor promised to correct but nothing was done on the matter.

He said the name on the ballot paper was “Taoheed Oladoja” while his name is “Taoheed Adedoja.”

He said the zero score credited to him by the PDP had embarrassed and maligned him “and brought great ridicule” to his political career which he claimed he built over 14 years.

Though he said he was not in court to contest the result, he said he was contesting an error in his name on the ballot paper used at the convention.

The content of the law suit

In the suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1225/2017 filed on his behalf at an Abuja Federal High Court by Messrs Rickey Tarfa & Co., Adedoja is seeking four prayers.

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The defendants in the suit are the Chairman and the Secretary of the PDP National Convention Planning Committee, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa and Dr. Ibrahim Umar respectively.

Secondus, the PDP and INEC were also joined as defendants.

The Ridicule

Professor Adedoja has said the zero score recorded against his name had opened his 14 years of political activism to ridicule.

Adedoja said, “I have suffered psychological trauma as a result of the public ridicule the election result has caused me, my family members, friends and associates.

“My lawyers are demanding appropriate compensation for damages, ridicule, embarrassment and the disrepute brought to my name as a result of the wilful exclusion of my name from participating in the election, resulting in the zero score credited to my name which is now in the public domain.”

It was gathered that no time had been fixed for the hearing of the case.

The PDP Convention at a glance

The PDP convention held on December 9, 2017 at the Eagles Square, Abuja with 29 candidates.

Ahead of the date, Chief Olabode George from South West had withdrawn from the race leaving 28 others to vie for the seat.

In the same vein, other aspirants like Chief Gbenga Daniel, Jimi Agbaje and Senator Rashidi Ladoja stepped down before the election.

In conclusion, Prince Uche Secondus, polled 2,000 votes in the election, was declared the winner ahead of Adedoja, Dr. Raymond Dokpesi and Prof. Tunde Adeniran, who were the other aspirants.

Dokpesi got 66 votes, Adeniran, 230 and Adedoja, zero.